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IP: RE: AT&T's First Amendment Problem, And Ours
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 09:35:19 -0400
From: "Meeks, Brock (MSNBCi)" <Brock.Meeks () MSNBC COM> To: "'farber () cis upenn edu'" <farber () cis upenn edu> Subject: RE: AT&T's First Amendment Problem, And Ours Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 06:35:48 -0700 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) That's all very true and all very unoriginal. AT&T "stole" the First Amendment argument from the Baby Bells. The Bells, very effectively, used the First Amendment as the hammer to get the courts to allow them into so-called "video dialtone," a scheme which has been a spectacular flop. Nonetheless, the cases set precedent. Bell Atlantic was the first to successfully proffer the argument in court, and with the help of none other than heavyweight Lawrence Tribe, if I'm not mistaken. Tribe argued that by PROHIBITING the Bells from building video capable networks, the government was denying them their first amendment rights. Bell Atlantic won the case and all the other Bells, cribbing directly from the BA briefs, filed suit across the country and eventually all won their cases.
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