A U.S. District Court judge appeared to repeatedly show strong skepticism Monday toward government arguments defending the White House's executive order targeting law firm Jenner & Block. It's among multiple Big Law targets of President Donald Trump's executive orders, though it's uncertain whether those orders affect communications lawyers (see 2504170027). Jenner & Block is challenging the order (see 2504010072), with Monday's session addressing the firm's motion for a permanent injunction and DOJ's rival motion to dismiss. "Give me a break," Judge John Bates scoffed during roughly 100 minutes of oral argument as DOJ lawyer Richard Lawson was arguing that allegations of racial discrimination in Jenner's hiring were the rationale for the order to bar the firm's employees from accessing federal agencies and buildings.

Carrier groups urged the FCC to move cautiously as it updates its Part 36 separations rules, which haven’t seen a major overhaul for more than 35 years. The rules remain important for many small providers, they noted in comments due Wednesday in docket 80-286. The FCC also has the ongoing “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding, which is examining eliminating rules of all kinds (see 2504140046 and 2504140063).

Two top Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are voicing concerns that speculation that President Donald Trump may move to fire FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2503200057) will scare off potential Democratic candidates to replace retiring Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Democratic FCC stakeholders began worrying about Gomez’s fate after Trump’s unprecedented March firings of Democratic FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter (see 2503190057). Legal experts said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court appears likely to overturn Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., a 1935 decision stopping the president from firing FTC commissioners without cause, which has implications for the FCC and other independent agencies.

The Center for American Rights (CAR) has filed a news distortion complaint at the FCC against CBS, NBC and ABC over their coverage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador. CAR is the same entity behind the ongoing news distortion proceeding against CBS over a 60 Minutes interview. The complaint comes less than a week after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted a warning to NBC parent Comcast about its coverage of Garcia. “Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn’t cut it,” Carr wrote Wednesday.

CTIA and other industry commenters urged the FCC to proceed with caution as it considers changes to wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) that were proposed in a February Further NPRM. Comments were due last week in dockets 15-94 and 15-91. The FNPRM proposed allowing more flexibility in sending out alerts using a “Public Safety Message” classification (see 2502270042).

The FCC’s pressure campaign against corporate diversity initiatives lacks a clear basis in the rules and isn’t likely to fare well if it is tested in the courts, said panelists during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday.

Approved by Congress last year (see 2412180027), the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act makes clear that the FCC must auction all AWS-3 licenses remaining in its inventory, CTIA said in reply comments about an auction procedures NPRM. Whether the FCC should create a tribal licensing window (TLW), which could allow tribes to obtain spectrum for some of the least-connected communities in the U.S., remains a contentious issue (see 2504010055). Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 25-70.

CTIA offered the FCC a list of programs for streamlining through the commission’s “Delete” proceeding in comments posted Monday in docket 25-133. In addition, USTelecom recommended “eliminating, streamlining, or reforming” some 3,000 rules in the "Code of Federal Regulations." The comments provide commission staff with thousands of suggestions to wade through as they evaluate changes the telecom industry suggested. As of late Monday, the commission has received nearly 900 comments in the proceeding (see 2504140063 and 2504140037).

The FCC and FTC are moving toward trying to rein in what they see as overly broad applications of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and to reverse what their agency leaders call censorship by social media platforms. Agency watchers said they expect the FCC to issue an advisory opinion soon, though some see such an opinion as more performative than practical. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has repeatedly said that addressing "the censorship cartel" is one of the agency's priorities (see 2411210028). His office and the FTC didn't comment. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez has been critical of the possibility of a Section 230 advisory opinion (see 2502240062).

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth on a nearly party-line vote of 16-12 Wednesday, as expected (see 2504080059). Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to buck his party by supporting her move forward. Panel Democrats gave Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty a more positive reception during her Wednesday confirmation hearing, even as they used some of their questions to hammer commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s actions since he took the gavel Jan. 20 and renew their concerns about the loss of agency independence during the Trump administration (see 2504090060).