President Donald Trump fired Democratic Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter on Tuesday. In so doing, Trump is ignoring a 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent that restricts the removal of commissioners to "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office," which could make the terminations illegal.
After the firings, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said he had "no doubts about [the president's] constitutional authority to remove Commissioners," citing Trump's possession of "all of the executive power in our government." Bedoya disagreed, denouncing his firing as illegal in a post on X. He also shared a statement from Slaughter, who described the firings as "violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent."
The relevant precedent is the 1935 Supreme Court case Humphrey's Executor v. U.S. and the statute is the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The Court found "it plain under the Constitution that illimitable power of removal is not possessed by the President" because the power of Congress to create quasi-legislative agencies like the FTC includes "power to fix the period during which they shall continue, and to forbid their removal except for cause in the meantime." The FTC itself was established and its commissioners were empowered to prosecute "unfair methods of competition…and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce," regardless of presidential administration.
