Nathan Simington

Nathan Simington is a commissioner of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Simington previously served as a senior advisor at the United States Department of Commerce. Prior to that, he had worked as a legal associate, often specializing in finance at various law firms.

Nathan Simington
Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission
Assumed office
December 14, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byMichael O'Rielly
Personal details
Born
Nathan Alexander Simington

1979
Education
OccupationAttorney

Early Life and Education

Simington grew up in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.[1] Prior to being awarded a law degree from the University of Michigan, Simington had pursued music, studying violin at Lawrence University, and earning a Master of the Arts in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music.

Career

Commerce Department and FCC

After working at Brightstar Corporation, Simington served in the Department of Commerce for five months, until President Trump announced the nomination of Simington to one of the most senior-most roles in the FCC, shortly after canceling the second confirmation hearing before the United States Senate for the current acting commissioner, Michael O'Rielly.[2] O'Rielly had reportedly expressed earlier to Trump that he "had deep reservations"[3] about the President's attempt to use his executive powers to order the FCC to limit the ability of online platforms to determine what they allowed on their platform, specifically his request that Section 230 legal protections be withdrawn from platforms that label or remove content shared by users which was deemed misleading, or otherwise violated their terms of service. The White House had drafted the Executive Order in May, after Twitter had applied fact-checking labels to two of the President's tweets where he alleged widespread voter fraud by the Democratic Party.[4]

O'Rielly later clarified his position in a speech, stating, "the First Amendment protects us from limits on speech imposed by the government—not private actors—and we should all reject demands, in the name of the First Amendment, for private actors to curate or publish speech in a certain way. Like it or not, the First Amendment's protections apply to corporate entities..."[5] Five days after the speech, without offering any additional information or a documented reason, Trump announced that he rescinded O'Rielly's nomination.[6] O'Rielly's tenure had officially expired in 2019, though he was permitted to serve through the end of 2020, or be reconfirmed for the position for another five years.[7] Trump chose to instead nominate Simington, who shared Trump's views on the matter. As a lawyer for the Commerce Department, Simington had helped write the petition to the FCC, which asked them to enforce Trump's executive order, and limit the legal protections of those online platforms which the White House deemed to be limiting the speech of conservative figures, even though such limitation on purely political speech has always been anecdotal.[8]

Appointed in September, Simington's Senate approval was fast-tracked,[9] with an expected confirmation hearing expected to be held before the end of December.[10] In October, Trump urged an expedited process, tweeting, “Republicans need to get smart and confirm Nate Simington to the FCC ASAP!”[11] The confirmation hearing was scheduled for November 10, considered near-record time,[12] shortly after the 2020 United States elections.[13] The day before his confirmation hearing, President Trump tweeted that he "wanted action NOW on this very important confirmation hearing!" He underwent his first confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on November 10, 2020.[14] According to Bloomberg Law, he was met with a generally mixed response, including only "luke-warm support" from Republican members, casting doubts as to whether he could be confirmed before President-Elect Joseph Biden would assume office.[15] On December 8, 2020, the full United States Senate confirmed his nomination by a 49–46 vote.[16] Simington assumed office on December 14, 2020.[17]

References
  1. "Nathan Simington". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  2. Kelly, Makena (September 10, 2020). "Trump eyes social media bias hawk as next FCC commissioner". The Verge. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  3. Brodkin, Jon (August 4, 2020). "Trump pulls re-nomination of FCC Republican who stood up for First Amendment". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  4. McCabe, David (October 27, 2020). "Trump Allies Amp Up Fight Over Tech's Legal Shield Before Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  5. Brodkin, Jon (September 16, 2020). "Trump replaces FCC member in bid to push through Twitter/Facebook crackdown". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  6. McCabe, David (October 27, 2020). "Trump Allies Amp Up Fight Over Tech's Legal Shield Before Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  7. Brodkin, Jon (September 16, 2020). "Trump replaces FCC member in bid to push through Twitter/Facebook crackdown". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  8. McCabe, David (October 27, 2020). "Trump Allies Amp Up Fight Over Tech's Legal Shield Before Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  9. Alexandra S. Levine. "Biden-Post saga collides with Section 230". POLITICO. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  10. Alexandra S. Levine. "Facebook changes course to ban Holocaust denial". POLITICO. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  11. Reuters Staff (October 15, 2020). "U.S. Senate panel to hold hearing on FCC nominee after Trump's urging". Reuters. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  12. Alexandra S. Levine. "Biden-Post saga collides with Section 230". POLITICO. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  13. "Movement in Washington on Section 230". The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. November 2, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  14. "PN2239 - Nomination of Nathan A. Simington for Federal Communications Commission, 116th Congress (2019-2020)". www.congress.gov. November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  15. "Trump Pushes Nominee Who Backs Crackdown on Social Media (1)". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  16. Shepardson, David (December 8, 2020). "U.S. Senate confirms Trump's FCC nominee, Simington". Reuters. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  17. Shepardson, David (December 14, 2020). "Trump nominee takes seat at U.S. telecom regulator". Reuters. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
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