As June began, a surprise exit from the FCC caught many industry leaders and market observers off-guard. In a rumored spat with Chairman Brendan Carr over agency leadership, in addition to the ability of the FCC to levy forfeitures in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, Nathan Simington tendered his resignation.
One month later, he has resurfaced at a D.C. think-tank.
Thank a post on professional social media platform LinkedIn by Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth, who served at the FCC from 1997 to 2001, for sharing the news that Simington is now a visiting fellow at the institute’s Center for the Economics of the Internet.
The Hudson Institute dates to 1961 and was founded by military strategist Herman Kahn and colleagues from the RAND Corporation. The institute is best known for studies in defense, international relations, economics, health care, technology, culture, and law.
Simington, a Canada-born attorney who became a U.S. citizen shortly before his 2020 appointment to the FCC by President Trump, now joins a roster of conservative policy thinkers at Hudson, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Attorney General William Barr, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Simington on June 6 unexpectedly departed the FCC, leaving the agency unexpectedly without a Republican majority or the three-member quorum needed for official action as Democrat Geoffrey Starks had already revealed he would exit at the end of spring 2025.
Simington’s resignation rushed the Senate’s confirmation of Republican FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty on June 17, which restored the commission’s quorum.
— Reporting by Adam Jacobson and Cameron Coats
