Obama hits a restraining wall

The courts foil his end run around the Constitution

 

President Obama’s assault on the Constitution hit a restraining wall the other day. A federal appeals court struck down the administration’s attempt to impose new rules on the Internet, and the Supreme Court, based on questioning by the justices — not always a reliable guide to their intentions — appears likely to tell Mr. Obama that, as important as he is, he can’t make an end run around the Constitution to appoint certain senior officials in the executive branch.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Federal Communications Commission does not have the authority to require Internet service providers to implement the commission’s “Net Neutrality” scheme. “Given that the Commission has chosen to classify broadband providers in a manner that exempts them from treatment as common carriers,” the court said, “the [1996] Communications Act expressly prohibits the Commission from nonetheless regulating them as such.” If the Obama administration wants the classification of Internet service providers changed, it must persuade Congress to do it. The president can’t just change the law himself, which he appears to be setting out to do.

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