Is the FCC an Independent Agency? Legal Experts Say Yes

Communications law experts pushed back after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty asserted the FCC is not an independent regulatory agency. Citing Supreme Court precedent in Wiener vs. United States and the commission structure Congress established in the Radio Act of 1927 and the Communications Act of 1934, former FCC chief counsel Bob Corn-Revere and Public Knowledge senior vice president Harold Feld said Congress deliberately designed the FCC to operate independent from executive influence. “Congress made it very, very clear: we want this to be an independent commission, to exercise independent judgment and to be insulated from political influence to the greatest extent possible,” said Feld.