Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter were fired by the president.
Two fired Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners on March 27 sued President Donald Trump over their terminations.
The law creating the FTC established that it shall have five commissioners who serve staggered seven-year terms. The statute also says a commissioner can be removed by a president only for âinefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.â
The U.S. Supreme Court in a 1935 ruling called Humphreyâs Executor said that Congress was able to restrict the presidentâs power to remove members of the FTC unless there was just cause, a restriction later specified as allowed for other independent agencies.
âIn short, it is bedrock, binding precedent that a President cannot remove an FTC Commissioner without cause,â the suit says. âAnd yet that is precisely what has happened here: President Trump has purported to terminate Plaintiffs as FTC Commissioners, not because they were inefficient, neglectful of their duties, or engaged in malfeasance, but simply because their âcontinued service on the FTC isâ supposedly âinconsistent with [his] Administrationâs priorities.’â
The fired commissioners are asking the court to declare the terminations illegal and permanently block the FTC from preventing them from continuing their work until their terms expire.
Rebecca Kelly Slaughter was nominated to serve as a Democrat FTC commissioner by Trump during his first term and was renominated by then-President Joe Biden in 2024. Her term expires in 2029.
Alvaro Bedoya, another Democrat commissioner, was nominated by Biden and is set to serve until September 2026 if the suit is successful.
The FTC law requires no more than three of the five commissioners to be of the same party.
âMy Democrat former colleagues are entitled to their day in court, but I have no doubt that President Trumpâs lawful powers will ultimately be confirmed,â he said. âIn the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission will continue its tireless work to protect consumers from unlawful monopolies and fraud.â
An appeals court appeared skeptical of arguments from Harris during a March 18 hearing, but has not yet ruled on the case.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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