On Tuesday, President Trump fired Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, the two Democratic Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners. The oustings left just two Republican commissioners at the agency, which is tasked with enforcing antitrust and consumer-protection laws.
The move represents the President’s intensifying efforts to exert his administration’s control over independent agencies across the government.
Slaughter and Bedoya contend they have been dismissed illegally and will sue to block Trump’s order. They also said they consider themselves still part of the FTC, although whether they will still have access to their offices and communication tools was unclear.
The White House confirmed the dismissals. Newly installed FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, a Republican who assumed the role in January, released a statement on X saying he had no doubts about Trump’s “constitutional authority to remove Commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability.”
‘Substantial executive power’
Unsurprisingly, Slaughter and Bedoya do not agree. “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.
“The administration clearly fears the accountability that opposition voices would provide if the President orders Chairman Ferguson to treat the most powerful corporations and their executives – like those that flanked the President at his inauguration – with kid gloves.”
Bedoya took to X to decry the “illegal” firing, and he told Axios this sets a precedent for corruption, with decisions coming under the influence of billionaire donors. He said he fears the FTC becoming like the DOJ, which threw out a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Trump’s request.
Trent Morse, a deputy director of presidential personnel, wrote on behalf of Trump to Bedoya, informing him he was fired, effectively immediately.
In the email, which Bedoya shared with Axios, Morse cites previous Supreme Court case Humphrey’s Executor, arguing that the firings do not qualify as illegal under that case decision because the FTC has “exercised substantial executive power.” In that 90-year-old ruling, the Supreme Court supported the concept of federal agencies having the authority to operate without direct control from the White House.
But, consider this: The FTC was established as an independent agency 111 years ago by Congress to operate without direct control from the White House. Slaughter noted as much in her own statement.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who both serve on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, issued a statement saying the move “violates the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent.”