On May 7, 2012, the US Senate confirmed Federal Communications Commission nominees Ajit V. Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel as Commissioners, filling the Commission's two vacant seats and restoring the Commission to its full five member panel. The two nominees are expected to be sworn in before the end of the week and begin their five year terms.
Ms. Rosenworcel is senior counsel for the US Senate Commerce Committee on Communications Technology and the Internet. She has worked for Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) since 2009 and previously worked for Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) from 2007 to 2008. She served at the FCC as senior legal advisor to Copps from 2003 to 2007 and as legal counsel to the Wireline Bureau chief from 2002 to 2003. From 1997 to 1999, Ms. Rosenworcel practiced law as a communications associate at the law firm Drinker Biddle and Reath. She received a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.
Mr. Pai is currently a partner at the law firm Jenner & Block. He had previously been mentioned as a candidate for the Commission in 2009 when Commissioner Baker was ultimately appointed. He previously served as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Civil Rights and as senior counsel at the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department. Pai began his career as a law clerk to Judge Martin Feldman of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and then joined the Justice Department as an Honors Program trial attorney in the Telecommunications Task Force of the Antitrust Division.
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