ICYMI: Sen. Cruz: Obama’s Plan to Give Away the Internet May Be Unconstitutional 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an affirmative determination of whether the Obama Administration’s plan to transfer U.S. oversight of the Internet violates the Constitution.

Read Sen. Cruz’s full release and the letter in its entirety here.

Wall Street Journal: Not Obama’s to Give Away
Congress may yet save the Internet by blocking the administration’s plan. Sen. Ted Cruz last week joined Chuck Grassley and Bob Goodlatte, respectively chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary committees, in sending a letter to the Government Accountability Office arguing that the executive branch cannot act alone. The letter…notes the constitutional requirement that only Congress can “dispose” of federal property. “Mr. Obama lacks the authority to give away what isn’t his,” Mr. Cruz told me last week. He says the letter to the GAO shows “grave concern in both the Senate and House.”

BuzzFeed: Ted Cruz Raises Constitutional Objections to the U.S. Giving Up Internet Governance
In the political contest to decide who will control the internet’s foundational architecture, Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday introduced a new referee: the U.S. Constitution. Joined by Republican congressional leaders in the House and Senate, Cruz wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office opposing the Obama Administration’s plans to transfer oversight power of the web’s domain name system to an international, multi-stakeholder group – on constitutional grounds.

Washington Post: Handing Over Control of the Internet Is Unconstitutional, Republicans Say
Congressional Republicans are once again accusing the Obama administration of violating the Constitution. This time, it has nothing to do with Obamacare and everything to do with the Web — specifically, a Commerce Department plan to shift some federal Internet responsibilities to a global nonprofit known as ICANN. As part of the process, the United States risks giving away a form of federal property, according to…Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.)… Because only Congress is authorized to "transfer government property," the group says in a letter to the Government Accountability Office, President Obama's attempts to do so without lawmakers' permission amounts to a breach of constitutional law.

Breitbart: Obama’s Plan to Surrender Internet Control May Be Unconstitutional
A group of Republican lawmakers is trying to stave off the lunacy of Obama’s Internet surrender by challenging the constitutionality of his actions. In a letter to the Government Accountability Office, they argued that the Internet’s “root zone file” – basically, the map that establishes where everything is located in virtual space – was developed by the U.S. Defense Department with U.S. taxpayer funding, back when the Internet began as a project to establish a military network that could survive a nuclear war. It is, therefore, a “national IT asset,” and has been officially designated as such.

The Hill: GOP Questions Constitutionality of Internet Domain Transition
Leaders of the Judiciary committees in Congress are questioning whether the Obama administration's decision to give up oversight of parts of the Internet address system is unconstitutional. The GOP lawmakers on Monday asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to explore whether the handoff is allowed to take place without Congress’s approval…Cruz and others have still pressed to block the transition unless Congress is given the opportunity to sign off on the deal. The latest concerns focus on the so-called root zone file, which contains the names and records associated with each top-level domain name. The lawmakers note that it is a national IT asset and was created by the Defense Department. 

Washington Examiner: Lawmakers: U.S. Plan for Internet May Be Unconstitutional
President Obama's plan to "internationalize" the Internet may be unconstitutional, key members of Congress are claiming. The group of lawmakers sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office last week, saying the plan to relinquish oversight of Internet domain name functions to a global, multi-stakeholder body raised questions about the administration's "authority to transfer possession and control of critical components of the Internet's infrastructure to a third party." The letter was signed by…Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas…

American Thinker: Question About Whether Obama’s Plan to ‘Internationalize’ the Internet Is Constitutional
A group of Republican lawmakers have sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office questioning the authority of the president to “transfer possession and control of critical components of the Internet's infrastructure to a third party.” The Obama administration plans to abandon oversight of internet domain name functions and allow an international body to assume control.

 ###