Overview

• A divided D.C. Circuit dissolved its administrative stay and ordered Rebecca Kelly Slaughter reinstated in a 2–1 ruling, saying the government is unlikely to prevail under the Supreme Court’s 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent.
• Judges Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard wrote that lower courts remain bound by Humphrey’s Executor, which allows removal of FTC commissioners only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.
• Judge Neomi Rao dissented, arguing courts likely lack authority to order reinstatement of an officer the president has removed and citing recent Supreme Court emergency stays in NLRB, MSPB, and CPSC cases.
• U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court to pause Slaughter’s return and to take the case, asserting the modern FTC wields substantial executive power and that prior emergency orders support a stay.
• A federal district court in July found Slaughter’s March firing unlawful; fellow Democratic commissioner Alvaro Bedoya resigned in June, and the outcome could affect the independence of other multi-member regulators.