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Brett Kavanaugh on Technology
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Net neutrality regulations violate the First Amendment
In a 2017 dissent, Kavanaugh said he believed that Obama-era net neutrality regulations were "unlawful" and wrote that the policy violated the First Amendment.At issue were rules approved by the FCC in 2015 to more strictly regulate the Internet.
The rules, based on the principle of "net neutrality," were intended to provide equal opportunity for Internet speeds and access to websites. In a May 2017 order, a majority of the DC Circuit declined to review an earlier decision siding with the FCC.
Under the Trump administration, the FCC has since moved to dismantle the regulation.
Kavanaugh wrote in his 2017 dissenting opinion that the regulation was consequential and "transforms the Internet." But he said the rule "impermissibly infringes on
the Internet service providers' editorial discretion," and he suggested the FCC had overreached in issuing the regulation. "Congress did not clearly authorize the FCC to issue the net neutrality rule," he wrote.
Source: CNN.com on lead-up to SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings
, Jul 9, 2018
Allow sweeping surveillance of Americans' phone records
The ACLU prepares reports on nominees' civil liberties records to help educate the American people. "Judge Kavanaugh's judicial writings show him to be a consistently conservative jurist: favoring executive power, allowing sweeping surveillance
of Americans' phone records, and allowing random drug testing of federal employees," said David Cole, ACLU national legal director. "Our hope is that this analysis contributes to the understanding of where Judge Kavanaugh stands on these issues."
Source: ACLU voting recommendation on SCOTUS Confirmation Hearing
, Aug 15, 2018
Page last updated: Mar 20, 2022