An emerging Federal Communications Commission plan to give the agency more authority to regulate traffic on broadband Internet networks is shaping up as the classic Washington compromise. No one loves the idea, and everyone is sure it will wind up in court.

Advocates of net neutrality, the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, dislike the plan because it doesn’t call for a bright-line rule banning broadband providers from cutting deals with content companies to deliver their websites more quickly...