Chief justice allows Trump to fire Federal Trade Commission member for now
President Donald Trump can fire a Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission while the Supreme Court considers whether to weigh in on a lawsuit challenging her dismissal, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ruled Monday.
Roberts did not offer a reason for the temporary ruling, but it signals that the high court may be inclined to overturn an appeals court decision last week that affirmed Rebecca Slaughter’s reinstatement.
The divided appeals court found the president removed Slaughter “without cause” from the agency that focuses on consumer protection and antitrust issues. The statute creating the FTC says commissioners can only be removed for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.”
The Trump administration filed an appeal to the Supreme Court last week, asking the justices to overturn the appeals court ruling. The high court has not said whether it will take up the case, but Roberts ordered Slaughter to file a reply to the government’s request by Sept. 15.
Despite the setback, Slaughter said in a statement that she would continue her fight.
“I intend to see this case through to the end,” said Slaughter, who had briefly returned to her job as a result of lower court rulings. “In the week I was back at the FTC it became even more clear to me that we desperately need the transparency and accountability Congress intended to have at bipartisan independent agencies.”
The case is the latest example of Trump’s assertion of broad authority to fire the heads of independent agencies and commissions that are insulated by law from being removed without cause. He has removed members of the National Labor Relations Board, Merit Systems Protection Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission, among others.
In each instance, the Supreme Court has allowed Trump to remove those executives while legal proceedings over their removals work through the courts.
The removal of the FTC commissioner is a direct challenge to a 1935 high court ruling known as Humphrey’s Executor, which established for-cause removal protections by Congress for the FTC and other commissions that are bipartisan and do not exercise executive power.
The Supreme Court has all but overruled that precedent in its recent rulings. The Trump administration argues in court filings that the FTC is a fundamentally different commission than it was in 1935. The administration cited its power to file civil suits, issue consumer protection rules and more.
“The FTC today exercises vast executive authority,” Trump officials wrote in filings.
Trump fired Slaughter and the second Democratic member of the five-member commission, Alvaro Bedoya, in March. Slaughter and Bedoya filed a lawsuit soon after, saying the move was illegal, but Bedoya eventually resigned from the commission.
In July, a federal judge ruled for Slaughter, saying Trump had improperly removed her. The appeals court eventually upheld that ruling.
The case comes as Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is fighting for her position after Trump said he was removing her for “sufficient cause,” alleging she made false statements on mortgage applications. Cook contends that her removal was illegal and a pretext for Trump to have a Fed board that will accede to his wishes to lower interest rates.
That high-profile battle is also likely to end up at the Supreme Court.
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