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yesterday

Judge Rules Trump Illegally Fired FTC Commissioner

Planned White House appeal paves the way for a Supreme Court test of the century-old for-cause removal rule.

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, one of two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission fired by President Donald Trump, speaks with CNN on March 19, 2025.
President Donald Trump speaking to reporters during a meeting with Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the Oval Office of the White House on July 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Image
Rebecca Slaughter, former commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Overview

  • U.S. District Judge Loren L. Alikhan concluded that President Trump’s March removal of Rebecca Slaughter breached the FTC Act’s statutory for-cause protections and is therefore legally void.
  • The decision invokes the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent, which limits arbitrary dismissals of independent regulators to preserve agency autonomy.
  • White House spokesman Kush Desai said the Supreme Court has long upheld presidential removal authority and that the administration will seek reversal of the ruling on appeal.
  • Alvaro Bedoya, the other commissioner dismissed alongside Slaughter, resigned in June and does not remain in the legal challenge.
  • A favorable ruling for the administration could undermine removal safeguards at the SEC, FDIC and Federal Reserve as a conservative 6-3 Supreme Court weighs the case.