The two plaintiffs say that a 1935 Supreme Court ruling sets a clear precedent: presidents cannot remove FTC commissioners except for reasons of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
Two former Federal Trade Commission officials are suing the Trump administration for terminating their employment, arguing that their firing was in violation of federal law.
According to ABC News, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiffs Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro M. Bedoya, both of whom had served as FTC commissioners until their removal last week. Filed in a Washington, D.C.-based federal court, Slaughter and Bedoya’s claim asks the court to reinstate their employment.
“We are trying to vindicate the law that Congress passed, that has been in place for over a century to protect accountability and transparency at the FTC,” Slaughter told ABC News. “To make sure that commissioners and the work of the commission is done without fear or favor, and more specifically, that we can take on the biggest companies in America without fear of getting fired for failure to do a favor to the President’s friends or donors or corporate allies.”
The Federal Trade Commission’s governing body, the commission, almost always consists of five members: three of whom are selected from the president’s political party, and another two from the opposition.
The Trump administration has since said that Slaughter and Bedoya were fired because their actions were “inconsistent” with its priorities, but did not provide any further details on what they may have done.
In their lawsuit, though, the two plaintiffs say that a 1935 Supreme Court ruling sets a clear precedent: presidents cannot remove FTC commissioners except for reasons of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
“This is a very obvious violation of the law, and we hope we will be reinstated in short order,” Bedoya said.
Bedoya and Slaughter said that don’t “know” if Trump’s relationship with billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg could have influenced the decision to remove them from the Commission, but believe that it could have played a role.
“It certainly raises the specter of that kind of interference and corruption,” Slaughter said. “We won’t know without the presence of minority commissioners at the FTC why it’s taking the actions it’s taking and whether they’re in line with the law.”
“Some of the recent, I would say, chaotic moves from the White House are a real concern, not just for consumers, but also for the market,” Bedoya said. “If you want small businesses and startups to succeed, you want a stable, predictable market where big companies can’t just snuff you out, not by issuing a better product, but just throwing their weight around to stop you. That is the kind of work FTC does, and that’s what I fear will go away.”
Sources
FTC commissioner fired by Trump says move threatens agency designed to protect consumers
FTC commissioners ousted by Trump speak out after filing lawsuit to reverse firings
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