Thread by @Steved24661

$ASTS: There have been a lot of questions on here about what will happen with the FCC / Starlink situation if Trump is elected and Elon is given a voice in the Trump Administration. For several reasons, the answer is not much will change if Trump is elected.

$ASTS: The biggest reason is structural and statutory limits on the President’s power to oversee the FCC. And by structural limitations, I mean the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution. Ever heard of it?

$ASTS: Article II of the Constitution vests the entire “executive power” in the President and entrusts the President to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Executive power generally means the power to enforce the laws that Congress passes.

$ASTS: Now, the President can’t do everything himself. So the Supreme Court has construed Article II as allowing the President to rely on executive officers to enforce laws for him. Without getting into the weeds, these officers are generally appointed by the President…

and confirmed by the Senate. The President will appoint different “Executive Officials” to enforce different laws. Through this appointment power, administrative agencies were born. Indeed, these Executive Officials are now what we consider the heads of agencies.

$asts

$ASTS: Since the President is delegating his sole executive power to these Executive Officials, the Supreme Court has said the President has the power to oversee these officials and fire them “at will.” So the President can fire these officials for any reason whatsoever.

$ASTS: But starting at the end of the 19th Century, the nature of the administrative state began to change. Woodrow Wilson’s seminal work “The Study of Administration” imagined an administrative state composed of experts who were insulated from politics (ie the President)

$ASTS: This work led Congress to created what are now known as “independent agencies.” These agencies are generally operated by a politically balanced multi-member board of commissioners who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

$ASTS: But The Commissioners are appointed to staggered terms and are generally only removable by the President for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance,” which is a very high standard. The FTC, FCC, etc. are considered independent agencies with this general structure.

$ASTS: Thus, Wilson’s vision of expert administration insulated from politics was born. The multi-member commission structure was upheld by the Supreme Court in the seminal case Humphrey’s Executor - a case that illustrates how little control the Prez has over these agencies.

$ASTS: In Humphrey’s Executor, Humphrey was reappointed to a six-year term with the FTC in 1931. After FDR took office in 1933, he became dissatisfied with Humphrey and viewed him as inadequately supportive of the New Deal. FDR thus tried to fire Humphrey for political reasons.

$ASTS: But like Milton from Office Space, Humphrey continued to come to work at the FTC even after he was formally fired. Long story short, the case went to the Supreme Court, with FDR arguing that the Constitution gave him the power to fire Humphrey, and with Humphrey claiming..

$ASTS: he could only be fired for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” which is the standard Congress set forth in the FTC Act. The Supreme Court agreed with Humphrey, explaining that the FTC merely acted merely as a legislative agency reporting to Congress

$ASTS: Humphrey’s Executor is instructive here. The Trump Administration’s powers w/r/t the FTC are limited. He can appoint a new chair or a new commissioner when a vacancy arises. But like Humphrey’s Executor, he cannot fire FCC Commissioners for no reason.

$ASTS: So although Rosenworcel may get removed as chair, she and the other Commissioner’s will continue to serve out their terms unless they royally screw up. And there is nothing Trump (or any other Prez) can do about it.

$ASTS: Of course, all administrative agencies can be influenced by politics and prone to regulatory capture. But the type of “burn it to the ground and appoint yes men” situation that many fear with Trump is not structurally or statutorily permissible.

$ASTS: Even if Trump tried to clean house and appoint Elon’s own people, $asts investors should be unconcerned because, like Humphrey’s Executor, that action could be reviewed and overturned by a federal court.

$ASTS: Finally, it’s important to note that $asts and starlink’s individual success are not mutually exclusive of each other. Elon / SpaceX are smart and will eventually figure their regulatory issues out. Even so, the D2D market is big enough for this duopoly to exist.

$ASTS: Indeed, Abel recently said during a podcast that the company believes the D2D market is in the single digit percentage of a more than 1 trillion dollar telecom market. That’s pretty yuge.