The Leadership Conference’s Center for Civil Rights and Technology Responds to Olivia Trusty’s Confirmation to the FCC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: [email protected] 

“By confirming Olivia Trusty to the FCC…too many senators abdicated their responsibility to ensure that the FCC is independent, fair, and balanced.”

WASHINGTON — Alejandra Montoya-Boyer, senior director of The Leadership Conference’s Center for Civil Rights and Technology, released the following statement on today’s 53-45 Senate vote to confirm Olivia Trusty to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a five-year term:

“The Federal Communications Commission was created as an independent and bipartisan agency to ensure universal connectivity, promote diverse voices in media, and protect consumers. But FCC Chair Brendan Carr is obsessed with turning the fight for digital equity into a culture war, while also censoring the media for reporting on news about the administration. By confirming Olivia Trusty to the FCC today for a five-year term, without ensuring a nominee to replace outgoing Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, too many senators abdicated their responsibility to ensure that the FCC is independent, fair, and balanced. Now, Commissioner Anna Gomez is the lone civil rights voice left who is fully committed to closing the digital divide and promoting freedom of speech and a diverse press. There’s little stopping her from being fired like members of the Federal Trade Commission, Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner, and National Labor Relations Board – all independent bodies like the FCC. 

“Though Trusty was voted on without these assurances, we still expect her to work to provide quality affordable broadband access and promote media diversity for all of us. We thank Senators Ben Ray Luján and Maria Cantwell for their leadership and commit to working with them to achieve these goals. We continue to demand that Commissioner Starks’ empty seat be filled immediately with a member not of the president’s party and that Commissioner Gomez remain on the commission, in order to ensure the FCC is independent and fulfills its mission to the people it truly serves.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has been consistent in its call to ensure an independent, fair, and balanced FCC, previously sending letters to the Senate Commerce Committee and Senate leadership urging them to delay and oppose Trusty’s confirmation until the administration gave binding assurances that Commissioner Gomez would remain on the commission and that Trusty’s confirmation vote would be paired with a replacement for former Commissioner Starks. 

The Center for Civil Rights and Technology (Center) is a joint project of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The Center, launched in September 2023, serves as a one-of-its-kind hub for advocacy, education, and research at the intersection of civil rights and technology. 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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