This week, Public Knowledge, along with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, the Center for Digital Democracy, and Free Press, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to reject attacks on the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission in recent Incarcerated Persons Communication Services (or IPCS) litigation.
This brief responds to arguments from a coalition of state attorneys general that the FCC’s structure, as a bipartisan independent agency with commissioners who cannot be removed for political reasons, violates the president’s constitutional powers. The brief demonstrates that this theory is fundamentally flawed, misreads nearly a century of established Supreme Court precedent, and threatens the independence of regulatory agencies that protect the public interest.
The following can be attributed to John Bergmayer, Legal Director at Public Knowledge:
“Congress deliberately structured the FCC as a bipartisan, multi-member commission insulated from political interference. This independence ensures that the FCC can regulate critical communications infrastructure impartially, safeguarding the public from undue political and private-sector influence. As detailed in the legislative history, lawmakers who first created the predecessor to the FCC rejected giving a single political appointee unchecked power over the nation’s communications, in favor of an independent commission structure. Independent agencies like the FCC have long been recognized as constitutional by the Supreme Court.
“Undermining the agency’s independent structure would disrupt not only communications policy but could also destabilize multiple critical agencies, including those overseeing financial markets, nuclear safety, and labor relations. We urge the courts to reject this attack on independent agencies.”
You may view the amicus brief for more information.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.