"Senator, there's been sort of a sea change in sort of the law and the approach since I think I wrote that sentence, I'm assuming, since you gave it to me. You said it in front of Congress. The view has been that the Communications Act was passed in 1934, one year before Humphrey's Executor. And so Congress did not include in the Communications Act for-cause removal of FCC commissioners."
"So I can be fired by the president for no reason or any reason at all. The theory had been that courts would read for-cause removal into the statute, and that was the basis for that viewpoint. I think now it's clear that that's not the case. And so, formally speaking, the FCC isn't independent because we don't have that key piece, which is for-cause-removal protection."
Sen. Andy Kim and FCC Chair Brendan Carr clashed at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing over the FCC's independence. Carr said recent legal shifts mean the Communications Act does not include statutory for-cause removal protections for commissioners, allowing presidential removal without cause and undermining formal independence. The FCC removed traditional explanatory information from its website after his comments. Kim cited the Communications Act's history and the rationale for placing regulatory authority outside the executive branch to prevent haphazard or politically driven technical decisions. The exchange centered on whether courts will read for-cause protections into the statute and the limits of executive power over the FCC.
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