Could courts campaign finance ruling affect net neutrality?
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that throws out limits on corporate political-endorsement spending is giving new hope to opponents of net neutrality regulation proposed by the U.S. Federal Communication Commission. In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed earlier rulings granting corporations free-speech rights, by saying a limit on spending for endorsements for candidates violates those rights. While Citizens United has nothing to do with net neutrality rules, opponents of the FCC’s proposal say the court appeared to strengthen corporate free-speech rights in a way that could apply to net neutrality. Net neutrality backers, however, say that people looking to the Citizens United case for direction on net neutrality are stretching the definitions of free speech and exaggerating the role of broadband service providers. “It’d be kind of funny, if we didn’t have to keep responding to some of these arguments,” said Corie Wright, a lawye
