Overview

• Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative stay on Sept. 8 that blocks lower-court orders reinstating Rebecca Slaughter and keeps her out of her FTC seat for now.
• The stay pauses a July 17 district-court ruling and a Sept. 2 D.C. Circuit decision that found the FTC Act’s for‑cause protections controlled and ordered her return.
• Roberts directed Slaughter to file her opposition to the government’s application by Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
• The Justice Department argues the FTC’s removal protections are unconstitutional and asks the justices to reconsider the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent.
• The order fits a recent pattern of temporary stays in cases involving the NLRB, MSPB and CPSC, and Slaughter’s ouster leaves the five‑member FTC with a Republican majority under the statute’s party‑balance cap.