Judge says Trump’s firing of FTC commissioner was illegal

A federal judge has restored commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter to her role at the Federal Trade Commission, ruling that President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire the Democratic appointee in March was illegal.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan issued the order on Thursday, saying that the Trump administration’s firings violated the FTC Act and protections under a 1935 Supreme Court precedent that prevented a president from unilaterally firing officials at independent agencies.

“Because those protections remain constitutional, as they have for almost a century, Ms. Slaughter’s purported removal was unlawful and without legal effect,” AliKhan wrote in her opinion.

The Trump administration said that it would appeal the decision, likely setting up a legal fight that could end in the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the President’s constitutional authority to fire and remove executive officers who exercise his authority. The Trump Administration will appeal this unlawful decision and looks forward to victory on this issue,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.

The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Slaughter is the latest in a line of Trump firings that have been overturned, as judges ruled to reverse attempts to purge Democratic officials at agencies including the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission in recent months.

Slaughter said she looked forward to returning to work at the agency. She said the ruling was welcome support for the idea that members of agencies across the government — including “other independent economic regulators like the SEC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve” — enjoyed protections against being fired by the president.

“All these agencies were designed by Congress so that the economy wouldn’t experience whiplash every time the political winds change,” she said.

Slaughter was one of two Democratic FTC commissioners fired by Trump. The other, Alvaro Bedoya, joined the initial lawsuit but then resigned in June, saying he needed to find work, and took a private-sector job. His claims were dismissed in Thursday’s ruling.

The legal fight is likely headed to the Supreme Court, as AliKhan noted in her opinion. The court has already ruled on a similar case on two Biden appointees challenging their firings at the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, allowing the firings to proceed.

“This court has no illusions about where this case’s journey leads,” AliKhan wrote.