Trump ALJ Order Doesn't Affect FCC, Agency Says
President Donald Trump's executive order that moves responsibility for hiring federal administrative law judges to individual agencies won't affect the FCC, which already directly appoints its ALJ, a spokesman said Wednesday. Trump's Tuesday order made all ALJs “exempted service” employees,…
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which means agencies will be “free to select from the best candidates who embody the appropriate temperament, legal acumen, impartiality and judgment required of an ALJ, and who meet the other needs of the agencies.” Trump signed the order in response to a June Supreme Court ruling that allowed a challenge to an SEC ALJ's authority to stand because the candidates for the role came from a centralized list of applicants approved by the Office of Personnel Management. ALJs qualify as “inferior officers” and thus only the president or an agency head can hire them, the high court ruled.