William P. Barr, nominated today to become the nation’s top law enforcement official in the Trump administration, is a former chief lawyer for Verizon Communications who has opposed net neutrality rules for more than a decade. Barr, who served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush from 1991-93, warned in 2006 that “network neutrality regulations would discourage construction of high-speed internet lines that telephone and cable giants are spending tens of billions of dollars to deploy.”

Corporations that have spent millions to gut Obama-era net neutrality laws may soon get more influential help to thwart state measures aimed at protecting consumers from having to pay extra for internet “fast lanes.”

Barr’s appointment would be welcome news for at least three major internet service providers and a trade organization—including Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association—that have spent more than $600 million lobbying on Capitol Hill since 2008, according to a MapLight analysis. Their lobbying on a key issue was rewarded last December, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by another former Verizon lawyer-turned-Trump appointee, overruled popular opinion by voting to scrap rules that banned internet companies from giving preferential treatment to particular websites or charging consumers more for different types of content.

Since then, at least four states–California, Vermont, Oregon, and Washington–have defied the federal government by passing their own net neutrality legislation. Governors in at least six states have signed executive orders designed to preserve net neutrality rules, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation on September 30 that essentially restored net neutrality protections for the nation’s most populous state. The Trump White House filed suit later on the same day to block the California law.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month turned down a Trump White House request to throw out a 2016 appellate court ruling that upheld the right of the Obama administration to issue net neutrality rules. Although the high court ruling didn’t overturn the 2017 FCC vote to scrap the Obama-era guidelines, it set a legal precedent that could assist net neutrality advocates in future cases.

Potential conflicts of interest

Barr’s previous employment with Verizon foreshadows credibility problems similar to those faced by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, also a former Verizon lawyer. Barr, however, is likely to face even more scrutiny stemming from his role as a member of WarnerMedia’s board of directors. The entertainment conglomerate, which includes HBO, Turner Broadcasting, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Group, was created in the aftermath of AT&T’s 2016 purchase of Time Warner Inc.

The $85 billion acquisition was opposed on antitrust grounds by Trump’s Justice Department (DOJ); AT&T has speculated that the opposition is based on Trump’s hatred for CNN, a Time Warner subsidiary that the White House has frequently accused of biased reporting. Barr has argued with Justice Department lawyers about the merger, filing an affidavit disputing their accounts of being threatened by Time Warner executives at a tense November 8 meeting.