Matthew Murchison

Murchison expects to spend 2018 once again absorbed in matters of preemption. He helped litigate a case last year where a court struck down Nashville’s “one touch make ready” ordinance on preemption grounds. “Anyone following the latest twists and turns in the net neutrality debate knows that preemption issues have occupied the spotlight there recently,” he says. “Preemption issues have taken on renewed importance in various other contexts as well, including online privacy and broadband infrastructure policy.” A well-rounded attorney, Murchison has provided pro bono representation on matters involving religious freedom and international humanitarian financing and serves with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

What have been the most important legal issues in communications for you in the past year?
This past year was one where federal preemption—a topic that often looms in the background of communications law—rushed to the forefront, both in the broader industry and in my practice in particular.  Anyone following the latest twists and turns in the net neutrality debate knows that preemption issues have occupied the spotlight there recently.  It’s a topic that has both legal and policy significance; the FCC took great care to ensure that its preemption ruling in the Restoring Internet Freedom Order was on firm legal footing under the Communications Act and judicial precedent, and did so based on a policy determination that the Internet should be subject to a uniform federal framework and not a patchwork of conflicting state and local requirements.  Preemption issues have taken on renewed importance in various other contexts as well, including online privacy and broadband infrastructure policy. And these issues have been a focal point of recent litigation in the communications arena, including a case I helped litigate this past year where a court struck down Nashville’s “one touch make ready” ordinance on preemption grounds.  I would expect preemption issues in communications to be just as prominent (if not more so) in 2018.

What’s the biggest sleeper issue in communications?
While much of the public debate over net neutrality has centered on whether and how to regulate ISPs, an issue that is sometimes overlooked or overshadowed is how to address harmful conduct online by non-ISPs.  One important aspect of the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order is that it restores the FTC as an effective cop on the beat for all participants in the Internet ecosystem, and thus helps promote a level playing field in the online marketplace.  It will be intriguing to see how the FTC approaches this role in the coming years.

What movie superhero would you most like to be and how would that character fit into the legal world of communications?
I suppose I’d choose Batman, if only for his vastly underappreciated ability to foresee major developments in communications law.  Case in point:  His specialized bat-phone from the mid-1960s TV show pre-dated the FCC’s landmark Carterfone ruling, allowing the connection of non-standard devices to telecom networks, by two years.