BATTLE

U.S. Sues California After It Restored Net Neutrality

Attorney General Jeff Sessions moves in, hours after state enacts new protections.

The Justice Department said it will take California to court after Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation to restore internet protections known as net neutrality, in defiance of the new federal law that repealed Obama-era standards. In the absence of net-neutrality rules, telecom companies and internet service providers can exert significant control over what people see online, leading to fears they will put their own content and apps in “fast lanes” and their competitors’ wares in “slow lanes.” “States do not regulate interstate commerce, the federal government does,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. But California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the Trump administration was ignoring “millions of Americans who voiced strong support for net-neutrality rules.”