California Imposed Its Own ‘Net Neutrality’ Law. The Feds Aren’t Happy About It: New at Reason

California’s blue state rebellion against President Donald Trump has spread to internet regulation.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit this week against California, arguing that the state’s new law—which will strictly regulate the business practices of AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile, and other internet providers if allowed to take effect—is “part of a pattern of recent actions by the state that purport to nullify federal law.”

“Once again the California legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a press release. “The Justice Department should not have to spend valuable time and resources to file this suit today, but we have a duty to defend the prerogatives of the federal government and protect our Constitutional order.”

For the Trump administration, asking the courts to quell California’s incipient revolt against federal authority is becoming something of a habit. In March 2018, the Justice Department sued Sacramento over laws aimed at protecting illegal immigrants, saying a trio of state laws impermissibly prevent federal immigration officers from doing their jobs. A month later, in April 2018, the Justice Department sued to block a state law that attempted to give California veto rights over federal land sales. Environmental activists had claimed that Californians would see “public lands sold off to oil and mining interests” otherwise, writes Declan McCullagh in his latest piece at Reason.

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