President Barack Obama nominated Ajit Varadaraj Pai, a former Justice Department official, as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission.

Pai previously held two positions at the Justice Department. He served as senior counsel at the Office of Legal Policy from 2004 until 2005, and was an Honors Program trial attorney in the Telecommunications Task Force at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division from 1998 until 2001.

Pai also has worked in the Office of the General Counsel at the FCC, where he served as deputy general counsel, associate general counsel and a special advisor from 2007 until 2011.

He also worked for Verizon Communications Inc. as associate general counsel from 2001 until 2003.

Pai has also been a legislative aide, serving as chief Ccunsel to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and property rights from 2005 until 2007, and as deputy chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on administrative oversight and the courts from 2003 until 2004.