Biden's FCC nominee Gigi Sohn tells the White House she is dropping out after her nomination stalled for 16 months amid industry opposition and personal attacks
a huge setback. As we learned when I authored CA's successful net neutrality law, these industries will stop at nothing to kill pro-consumer laws https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @aclu : Without a tie-breaking fifth commissioner, the FCC can't pursue important work like expanding broadband access and restoring net neutrality. President Biden and Congress must do their jobs by nominating and confirming a new commissioner as soon as possible. https://twitter.com/... Barbara van Schewick / @vanschewick : I am shocked to learn that @gigisohn withdrew her nomination for #FCC commissioner. She was extremely qualified and has spent her entire career fighting for consumer rights . She would have been a great commissioner. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @anildash : What a fucking loss. For everyone. The telcos are so goddamned determined to hurt opportunity, access and innovation. https://twitter.com/... Jameel Jaffer / @jameeljaffer : Terrible outcome. Grateful to Gigi Sohn for her willingness to serve. Wish she'd been given the opportunity. https://twitter.com/... Karl Bode / @karlbode : what happens next? Biden (who I hear DID personally support Sohn) will nominate somebody industry can accept, but by the time they're seated they'll have no time to implement any meaningful reform before the next election, much as Comcast, AT&T, and News Corporation intended. Meredith Rose / @m_f_rose : The culmination of an absolutely disgraceful campaign of smear attacks, homophobia and bad faith bullshit. Every single person who hemmed and hawed in the face of it should be ashamed of themselves. https://twitter.com/... @normative : As someone who disagreed with Gigi about virtually everything, I'm saddened to see this. She's a smart policy thinker whose nomination was killed by deranged fabrications and smears. I probably would have disliked her policies, but this isn't how it should work. https://twitter.com/... @berinszoka : 1. I've disagreed with @gigibsohn about the biggest telecom issues for 15 years—but those issues aren't why her nomination floundered. Multiple Dem Senators feared supporting someone who had called out Fox for what it was in the Trump years: “state-sponsored propaganda” https://twitter.com/... Lindsey Boylan / @lindseyboylan : This should be a bigger story. Industry lobbyists effectively locked out a consumer advocate from a top admin post with smears and lies. https://twitter.com/... Emil Protalinski / @epro : Gigi Sohn is the latest casualty of lobbying destroying any remaining hope of the US fixing its broken systems. https://twitter.com/... Seung Min Kim / @seungminkim : Death by Manchin https://twitter.com/... Craig Aaron / @notaaroncraig : This is awful. Nobody deserves to be treated the way Gigi was treated. The Democrats' failure to speak out against industry-orchestrated smears cost us a great leader and public servant at the FCC. Shameful. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Maya Wiley / @mayawiley : This is not only a loss for the FCC, it's a disturbing outcome for a future that requires we deliver broadband access with equity and regulate industries that need policing. “Biden FCC nominee withdraws, following bruising lobbying battle” https://t.co/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The FCC leadership gap had already delayed action associated with Biden's agenda, including efforts to reinstate net neutrality, in the earlier delay in naming FCC leaders. Sohn's confirmation fight then became a focused lobbying battle, with Comcast and Fox lobbying Senate swing votes against her.
Her withdrawal ends that nomination without supplying the fifth commissioner that advocates say is needed to break FCC deadlocks. It turns the administration's regulatory agenda into another nomination-and-confirmation test.
First-order effects
- The FCC remains without a tie-breaking fifth commissioner, constraining work cited by advocates such as broadband expansion and restoring net-neutrality rules.
- The White House must select and advance a new FCC nominee after Sohn's 16-month stalled process, while Congress again controls the timetable for a full commission.
Second-order effects
- Comcast, Fox and other telecom interests that opposed Sohn gain additional time before a fully staffed FCC can pursue the consumer-policy agenda associated with her nomination.
- A replacement nomination is likely to refocus Senate lobbying on the same FCC policy stakes that drew coordinated industry opposition to Sohn.
Third-order effects
- The episode shows how confirmation politics can function as a gate on agency policy: control of an FCC seat can determine whether a nominal majority becomes an operational majority.
- If such vacancies persist, telecom regulation will be shaped as much by the durability of Senate confirmation coalitions as by the FCC's formal authority.
The trend: FCC policymaking is increasingly being decided upstream in nomination fights, where industry lobbying can delay the commission majorities needed to act.