> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Communications Act Could Give FCC Commissioners Firmer Legal Footing Than Slaughter - URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/communications-act-could-give-fcc-commissioners-firmer-legal-footing-than-slaughter/ - Published: 2026-08-03T16:53:50.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-21T21:47:34.000Z - Description: Unlike the FTC, Congress intentionally designed the FCC as a bipartisan commission, one expert said - Author: Jericho Casper - Tags: FCC, #with-siderail, Independent Agencies, FTC, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, Brendan Carr, Anna Gomez, Gwynne Wilcox, Blair Levin, Donald Trump, NLRB, Communications Act, Tech Policy Institute, CSIS, American Antitrust Institute WASHINGTON, August 3, 2026 – The Federal Communications Commission faces distinct differences, and potentially firmer legal footing, than other independent agencies swept up in the Supreme Court’s June decision stripping commissioners of some removal protections. In [a paper](https://techpolicyinstitute.org/publications/freespeech/the-particular-dangers-of-slaughters-impact-on-the-fcc/?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) for the Tech Policy Institute, longtime communications policy analyst **Blair Levin**, a former FCC chief of staff, argues that the FCC’s situation differs from that of agencies like the Federal Trade Commission in the wake of [the June 29 ruling](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/supreme-court-lets-trump-to-fire-federal-trade-commissioner-carves-out-federal-reserve-exception/) in *Trump v. Slaughter*. Under the ruling, the court held that the president may dismiss confirmed commissioners at independent agencies without cause. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/97/29976d9d-89ea-4c77-8c0b-0e8a0eafed35/content/images/2026/07/150-gilbert-flag-and-date-jpg.jpg)](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/telecom150) [***Learn about the 3-Part Preview of America250 / Telecom150, a Broadband Breakfast conference on October 1, 2026**](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/telecom150-2/) [America250 / Telecom150 ](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/telecom150) [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/97/29976d9d-89ea-4c77-8c0b-0e8a0eafed35/content/images/2026/07/ai_and_congress_event_graphic_v4-jpg-4.jpg)](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/broadband-and-ai/) [***Learn about "Broadband and AI in the Next Congress" at the National Press Club on December 1, 2026**](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/broadband-and-ai/) [Broadband & AI in the Next Congress ](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/broadband-and-ai/) Unlike a standard independent agency, Levin writes, “Congress...did not simply establish an independent agency. It explicitly designed a multi-member, multi-party commission,” writing into the Communications Act that no single political party can hold more than a bare majority of the FCC’s seats. The structural choice reflects Congress’s judgment that control over broadcast licensing and the airwaves should never sit entirely in one party’s hands, he says. The analysis raises the question of whether the FCC’s sole Democrat, Commissioner **Anna Gomez**, could face removal similar to **Rebecca Kelly Slaughter**’s ouster from the FTC. Levin is skeptical: “He might, but I doubt it,” he writes of a potential Trump move against Gomez, noting that her removal without a replacement would leave the FCC without the three-member quorum required for major rulemakings, including changes to broadcast ownership rules that Chairman **Brendan Carr** has pursued. The scenario could cause years of uncertainty for industry and investors relying on FCC decisions, Levin warns, comparing it to the year-long paralysis the National Labor Relations Board experienced after losing its quorum in 2025, [whenTrump fired](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/terminated-ftc-democrats-vow-to-take-trump-to-court/) NLRB Commissioner **Gwynne Wilcox**, in effect, causing hundreds of pending labor cases to freeze. A more likely scenario, Levin suggests, is that Trump seeks Senate confirmation of a third Republican commissioner before moving against Gomez, though he notes that path “also faces legal and political challenges.” Gomez’s own term technically expired June 30, though she may serve until a successor is confirmed or the end of 2027. Levin also notes a widespread view that the ruling changes little at the FCC in practice, since Carr already conducts much of his most consequential work through the bureaus. Carr, for his part, [has argued the FCC](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/senators-press-fcc-chair-for-first-time-since-kimmel-controversy/) was never truly independent to begin with. ### *Slaugher spoke about her own case on Monday* Slaughter, the former FTC commissioner whose removal without cause gave the Supreme Court case its name, raised her own quorum concerns in remarks Monday at [an American Antitrust Institute forum](https://www.antitrustinstitute.org/event/aai-clc-gwlaw-conference-ftc-after-trump-v-slaughter/?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com). Historically, Slaughter said, control of agencies like the FTC has shifted to the incoming president’s party by norm rather than by law. Chairs of the outgoing party have simply stepped down when a new administration takes office, even though the underlying statutes never required it. Slaughter said she witnessed that norm’s strength firsthand: While working in the Senate during the first Trump transition, she tried to convince a Democratic chair at an independent commission to stay on and preserve a Democratic majority, and was told, in blunter terms, to abandon the idea. That norm, she warned, is now in jeopardy. If commissioners of the outgoing party decline to step aside, or if there are none left to begin with, an incoming president could face a stark choice: leave an agency chaired by a political opponent in place, or leave it without enough members to act at all. Slaughter posed the question directly for her own agency: What happens in January 2029 if there are no sitting Democrats left at the FTC? Drawing on her FTC tenure, Slaughter argued removal protections had historically guarded a set of values now at risk across the government. Those include protection against corruption and undue political influence, engagement with opposing viewpoints, an incentive toward consensus, and transparency and accountability through public dissent, she said. Slaughter said minority commissioners at the FTC have historically never felt they had equal access to information even before her own removal. She added that during a brief return to the FTC in September, she was told staff were newly barred from communicating directly with non-chair commissioners. Her remarks suggest that even where legal protections remain intact, the informal norms that made bipartisan oversight functional – equal access to staff and information, orderly transitions, and a working quorum – are already eroding in practice.