CAAD
I'm afraid your description of the SC process did not include the enormous lobbying power of US Industry and the relative frailty of the FAA.
of course you are somewhat correct ... but it works both ways. The rest of the industry (Boeings competitors and the public intelligencia) are not about to let a manufacturer get an upper hand on introducing a new and untested concept into the market.
I've had my say in commenting on Special Conditions and had little problem in turning a one sided argument. On the other hand I've have personally reviewed in total a raft of comments on a Special Condition and most of these were filed without technical knowledge or understanding and should have been binned.
In the end I have faith in the process except for the possibility that the key players e.g. Boeing and the regulator misled themselves and any public comments to that effect were devoid of data. This process is not a voting process, it's based on technical knowledge that can be vetted.