FTC Commissioners File Suit to Contest Trump's Alleged Firing

[Passages]

Citing a century of precedent, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter kick off a process destined for the Supreme Court.

by David Dayen

March 27, 2025

Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, two commissioners on the Federal Trade Commission, have filed suit in federal court against Donald Trump’s attempt to fire them last week, arguing that the action was “in direct violation of a century of federal law and Supreme Court precedent.”

Filed in U.S. District Court in D.C., the suit sets up a long-awaited battle over executive power. The Trump administration has rather explicitly fired Bedoya, Slaughter, and other Democratic members of bipartisan commissions throughout the government in a bid to centralize power in the president.

Bedoya and Slaughter cite Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), which barred President Roosevelt from firing an FTC commissioner without cause (specifically, as per the FTC statute, “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office”). But the case reaches back further, to the similar protections for independent commissioners embedded in the 1887 establishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and even all the way to the Sinking Fund Commission, created by the very first Congress and signed by President Washington, whose members could not be dismissed by the chief executive.

SNIP
The lawsuit delivered more details about the attempted firing message from Trump, which did not cite any dereliction of duty. It merely said, “Your continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with my Administration’s priorities. Accordingly, I am removing you from office pursuant to my authority under Article II of the Constitution.” Humphrey’s Executor was also mentioned, but Trump claimed it “does not fit the principal officers who head the FTC today” because “the FTC exercises substantial executive power.” This is consistent with the argument in Project 2025 for overturning Humphrey’s Executor.
https://prospect.org/justice/2025-03-27-ftc-commissioners-file-suit-trumps-alleged-firing/