The two Democratic members of the
“The president’s action is indefensible under governing law,” Slaughter and Bedoya said in their complaint, which names Trump, FTC Chairman
Bedoya and Slaughter’s suit would give the high court a direct opportunity to reconsider a 1935 Supreme Court case which upheld job protections Congress created to shield FTC commissioners from being fired, except in cases of “neglect or malfeasance.” The decision, known as Humphrey’s Executor, underpins the independent agencies that now proliferate across the federal government.
A White House spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House has previously said it would defend the firings all the way to the Supreme Court.
Stop Defending
The Trump administration has argued that the high court’s decision was wrongly decided and in February
“There is no legal difference between Jerome Powell and me,” Slaughter said last week on Bloomberg TV in reference to the Fed chair. “If the president can legally remove me, he can legally remove Jerome Powell.”
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Trump
Slaughter and Bedoya contend the firings place the agency’s actions at the political whims of the president, and since being fired have publicly questioned whether Trump will interfere in their cases at the behest of companies under scrutiny. The lawsuit includes a list of actions the FTC has taken in the last several years against some of the world’s largest companies, including
Bedoya was nominated by former President
Bipartisan Manner
The commission has historically carried out its consumer protection and antitrust enforcement duties in a bipartisan manner, though panel votes on some high-profile lawsuits break along party lines. That changed under Biden administration Chair
In dozens of lawsuits over the past several years, conservative groups have sought to strike down legal protections against commission firings. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the president could fire the director of the
Business and anti-regulatory groups have pushed the court to go further, arguing that the Constitution gives the president authority to fire the leaders of multimember commissions that perform executive branch functions. So far, the Supreme Court has turned away various cases involving other independent agencies.
The Trump administration has already fired several Democratic commissioners from independent agencies, including the chair of the
Several of those firings have led to lawsuits. Former NLRB chair
Among the lawyers representing Slaughter and Bedoya is
(Updates with more background on the case.)
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To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Peter Blumberg, Peter Jeffrey
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