The New York Times

The Justice Department on Sunday sued US state California to stop the state’s new law that would guarantee full and equal access to the internet —a principle known as net neutrality, in a legal skirmish between the state and the Trump administration.

The suit was filed shortly after the Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill, which is one of the strongest efforts in the nation to restore internet access rules since they were rolled back by the Federal Communications Commission last year. Brown has been a forceful opponent to many of the President’s actions, including immigration and environmental deregulation.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that California’s net neutrality law was illegal because the Congress granted the federal government, through the FCC, sole authority to create rules for broadband internet providers.

“States do not regulate interstate commerce — the federal government does,” said Sessions.“Once again the California legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate the federal policy.”

The California law positioned the state as a standard-bearer for internet regulation. The state’s net neutrality rules follow the creation of an internet privacy law in June. It could push broadband providers to apply the same rules to other states.

Xavier Becerra, California’s Attorney Generalsaid the state would defend its new law.

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