US Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Order Reinstating FTC Commissioner

By Mike Scarcella and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court late on Monday temporarily blocked a court order that allowed Democratic U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter to resume her role at the agency, despite the White House’s effort to remove her from office.

The Justice Department, in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, had argued the district court judge’s reinstatement of Slaughter runs afoul of the president’s executive powers under the U.S. Constitution.

The three-judge panel of the court said the lower court ruling would remain on hold until court papers are filed by July 29.

Slaughter in a statement on Tuesday said she will “continue to fight my illegal firing and see this case through.”

“Like dozens of other federal agencies, the Federal Trade Commission has been protected from presidential politics for nearly a century,” Slaughter said.

The White House said in a statement that the Supreme Court has “repeatedly upheld the President’s constitutional authority to fire and remove executive officers” and that the administration “looks forward to victory on this issue.”

The appeals court said the order was meant to give the judges sufficient time to consider the Trump administration’s request to block the ruling and should not be “construed in any way as a ruling on the merits.”

The Justice Department is challenging a July 17 order by U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington that said the White House violated federal law in removing Slaughter, who was first appointed by Republican President Donald Trump and reappointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden.

The case in the appeals court will mark the latest clash over the Trump administration’s efforts to fire some Democratic officials at federal agencies.

The U.S. Supreme Court in May ruled that Trump could bar two Democratic members of federal labor boards from their posts while they challenge the legality of his dismissal of them.

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

Slaughter and another ousted Democratic FTC commissioner, Alvaro Bedoya, sued the Trump administration in March over its decision to remove them. They said Trump violated a law that allows a president to fire an FTC member only for good cause, including neglect of duties.

Bedoya has since formally resigned from the agency.

In her ruling last week, AliKhan said the Trump administration’s attempt to oust Slaughter did not comply with removal protections in federal law.

AliKhan, who was appointed by Biden, said the Trump administration wants “the FTC to be something it is not: a subservient agency subject to the whims of the President and wholly lacking in autonomy. But that is not how Congress structured it.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario, Chizu Nomiyama, Lincoln Feast and Paul Simao)