Gomez: Firing Minority-Party Commissioners Would Weaken FCC in Court
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said Friday at a policy forum that removing all minority-party commissioners would weaken the agency’s ability to defend its rules in court. “The Communications Act doesn't just require three commissioners for quorum,” she told the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Tech Freedom audience. “It requires that there will be one member of a minority party, and that, in and of itself, could weaken whatever defense that a future FCC may have if there is no such single minority party member.” The agency also wouldn’t be able to present evidence that it had considered dissenting opinions, making it harder for a one-party FCC to present itself as an expert agency, said Gomez and Tech Freedom President Berin Szoka.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
In addition, Gomez condemned FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s threats against private companies and said that he has focused on letters and investigations instead of rulemaking to avoid losing legal challenges. “You cannot appeal a threat,” Gomez said. “You can't appeal a letter that accuses you of bad acts.” Due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings doing away with Chevron deference and limiting agency authority over major questions, the FCC is likely to lose in the courts if it tries to push the boundaries of its authority by regulating liability protections for tech companies, Gomez said.
She rejected arguments that the previous administration’s pressure on social media companies over COVID-19 misinformation is similar to Carr’s action on free speech. The courts have found that government agencies “can express opinions, for example, to save lives by encouraging companies not to spread anti-vaccine hoaxes,” she said. In contrast, the FCC “is wielding its regulatory licensing power” and “threatening companies in order to get them to either change their news practices, their news reporting” or change diversity practices, Gomez said. “Those are false equivalencies.”