Fired Democratic FTC commissioners are suing Trump

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN

New York (CNN) — Two Federal Trade Commission members who were fired this month have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing on Thursday that the decision violated a long-established legal precedent preventing political firings.

On March 18, Democratic Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter received an email from the White House stating that they were fired, effective immediately and without any legal cause. In the email, President Donald Trump said their “continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with my Administration’s priorities,” according to the lawsuit.

A Supreme Court ruling from 1935 held that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause. The fired commissioners argue that their terminations violate this “binding precedent.”

Trump’s firing of the commissioners raised immediate concerns that the administration was undermining and weakening independent watchdogs and regulators in Washington. In a scathing critique posted on X in March following the firings, Bedoya said “the president wants the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies.”

Removal protections are in a number of independent agencies like the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Trump’s email to the commissioners echoed “nearly word-for-word” President Franklin Roosevelt’s contested message in the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor v. United States case, according to the lawsuit.

“The President’s action is indefensible under governing law,” the complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia said.

In a statement Thursday, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson reiterated that Trump had the constitutional authority to “remove commissioners from agencies that wield substantial executive power.”

“My Democrat former colleagues are entitled to their day in court, but I have no doubt that President Trump’s lawful powers will ultimately be confirmed,” he said in the statement.

The lawsuit wants the commissioners reinstated to finish their terms. Slaughter’s term was supposed to end in 2029, and Bedoya’s term was due to expire in 2026.

Trump, Ferguson, Republican FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak and FTC Executive Director David Robbins were named as defendants in the suit.

President Joe Biden had nominated Ferguson, a Republican, to serve as commissioner in 2023, and the lawsuit noted he told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that if confirmed, “I will abide by (the) binding Supreme Court precedent.”

But after Slaughter and Bedoya’s firings, Ferguson said in a statement on social media that he has “no doubts” about Trump’s “constitutional authority to remove Commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government.”

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