Can the FCC promote broadband competition, innovation, and investment? The courts and Congress to decide

[Commentary] On Monday, September 9, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments in Verizon v. Federal Communications (11-1355). Judges Judith W. Rogers, David S. Tatel, Laurence H. Silberman will now decide the fate of the FCC’s Open Internet rules. The case will determine, according to former White House Aide, Susan Crawford, “does the U.S. government have any role to play when it comes to ensuring ubiquitous, open, world-class, interconnected, reasonably priced Internet access? Does the government have good reason to ensure that facility in America?” The case is also a test of Verizon's novel argument that its decisions about traffic on its network are subject to the same First Amendment rights a publisher has in deciding what to put in a newspaper. By the end of the hearing, the question appeared to be whether the FCC's Open Internet Rules would be invalidated in their entirety, or whether only some of them would be thrown out.