The Trump administration dismissed two Democrats on the Federal Trade Commission, in the latest move by the White House to assert control over independent agencies.
The commissioners, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, were told of their dismissal in an email from the White House personnel office. The five-member FTC enforces antitrust and consumer protection laws, including those related to the privacy of financial information and children online.
"The president just illegally fired me," Bedoya said in a
"Today the President illegally fired me from my position as a Federal Trade Commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent," Slaughter said in an emailed statement. "Why? Because I have a voice. And he is afraid of what I'll tell the American people."
"Your continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with my administration's priorities. Accordingly, I am removing you from office," the email said, according to a copy viewed by Bloomberg.
According to the
Bedoya was nominated by the Biden administration and joined the commission in May 2022 for a term that expires in September 2026. Slaughter arrived in 2018 during the first Trump administration and was later confirmed to a second term through September 2029.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, who joined the agency last year and was elevated by President Donald Trump as its leader, defended the president's decision on the dismissals.
"I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government," Ferguson said in a
Ferguson has previously
Billionaires
"I want the public to think about the billionaires standing over the president's shoulder at the inauguration," Bedoya said in an interview. The FTC is pursuing cases against Meta Platforms and Amazon.com. Both companies' founders — Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos — attended the inauguration.
The FTC does not require a quorum to conduct business, so the panel can continue to bring cases with only two commissioners.
Removing the Democrats leaves the FTC, which has a staff of more than 1,200, with two Republican commissioners — Ferguson and Commissioner Melissa Holyoak. Trump has nominated a third Republican, Mark Meador, to fill the vacancy left when Khan, a Biden appointee, stepped down. Meador's nomination has advanced in the Senate but still requires a full chamber vote.
Reshaping agencies
The firings are the latest by Trump to challenge a 90-year legal precedent that shields members of independent agencies — part of his administration's move to gain greater influence across the government.
Since taking office in January, Trump has dismissed other members of independent agencies, including a Democratic commissioner from the National Labor Relations Board, and two Democrats on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He also fired the Democratic members of an independent intelligence review board created in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
Former NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox has sued over her removal, and a federal court ordered her reinstated. The Justice Department is appealing.
Humphrey's Executor
A 1935 Supreme Court case, known as Humphrey's Executor v. United States, upheld job protections Congress created to shield FTC commissioners from being fired except in cases of malfeasance or neglect. The ruling green-lighted the independent agencies that now proliferate across the federal government.
The Justice Department said recently that it believes that Supreme Court decision is at odds with the Constitution and said that it would push the high court to reverse it. Independent agencies like the FTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission and others have members who are presidentially appointed but not subject to White House control.
The Supreme Court in 2020 ruled that the president could fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for any reason, striking down a similar shield Congress had created for that position. Business and anti-regulatory groups have pushed the court to go further, arguing that the Constitution also gives the president authority to fire the leaders of multimember commissions that perform executive branch functions.
However, in January, the Supreme Court turned away an appeal brought by an Oklahoma-based company that argued the president should have the authority to fire members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which sets standards on products and can seek multimillion-dollar fines from violators.
