SCOTUS Decision Raises Gomez Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 91-year-old precedent on Monday, giving the president broader authority to remove officials at independent regulatory agencies. It raises questions about the tenure of FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the dais.
The decision could have direct implications for Gomez, who frequently publicly criticizes FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s positions on a myriad of items, including broadband issues such as last week’s E-Rate vote. Gomez has said publicly that she would challenge an attempt to remove her before the end of her term, according to Newscaststudio.com.
Gomez’s term expired yesterday, June 30. Under the Communications Act, she may remain in office until the Senate confirms a successor. However, the White House could opt to nominate and push for a replacement rather than retain her, notes Communications Daily. A White House official indicated Tuesday that President Trump intends to “nominate a highly qualified individual in short order to best deliver on the Administration’s FCC policies” but would not say whether the potential nominee would fill one of the commission’s two open seats or potentially replace Gomez.
Removing Gomez before a successor is seated would create an operational problem for the FCC, according to Newscaststudio.com. That’s because the agency needs three members for a quorum. Gomez’s departure would leave two commissioners, Carr and fellow Republican Olivia Trusty.
Carr told senators during a Senate oversight hearing in December 2025 that the FCC was “not formally an independent agency” because the president could remove its commissioners, Inside Towers reported.
By a vote of 6-3, the justices struck down a federal law that bars the president from firing members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) except in cases of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” The decision in Trump v. Slaughter reversed and remanded a lower-court judgment that had reinstated FTC member Rebecca Slaughter. That occurred after President Donald Trump removed her in March 2025 without citing a statutory cause, SCOTUSblog reported.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said the FTC’s removal protections violated the constitutional separation of powers because the agency exercises executive authority that must remain under presidential control.
Unlike the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Communications Act does not specifically limit the president’s authority to remove FCC commissioners. The court’s decision also weakened the constitutional basis for a potential legal challenge to such a removal.
Gomez blasted the Court decision. “For nearly a century, the FCC’s credibility as an expert-driven regulatory body has been a cornerstone of American leadership in global communications. When we negotiate spectrum agreements with foreign governments and international bodies, our counterparts trust that our positions reflect technical expertise and legal authority, not the political preferences of whoever occupies the White House at a given moment,” she stated. “That credibility is difficult to build and easy to destroy, and the uncertainty created by this decision puts it at risk in ways that will reverberate far beyond our borders.”
Gomez explained, “Those who argue these agencies are unaccountable misunderstand how they were designed, as the FCC answers to Congress, the democratically elected body that created it, through oversight, appropriations, and legislation. When commissioners can be removed for their policy views rather than for cause, the inevitable result is an agency that pulls its punches and defers to political winds rather than the record before it. Consumers pay the price for that kind of regulatory timidity in higher costs, fewer choices, and slower progress toward the connected future this country deserves.”
“Protecting consumers, promoting competitive innovation, and defending free expression are at the heart of my work at the Commission, and I intend to keep doing that work for as long as I am able to serve,” Gomez summarized.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
