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The two Democratic members of the five-member Federal Trade Commission were fired by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, drawing criticism from Democratic senators.
The Federal Trade Commission enforces antitrust law and promotes consumer protection. FTC commissioners are appointed by the president and have to be confirmed by the Senate. The commission has a bipartisan structure, and no more than three members can be from the same political party. According to Supreme Court precedent, presidents can’t remove FTC commissioners before their seven-year term is finished without a reason. The Trump administration may be looking to challenge that precedent in court.
The Republican FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said he supports the firings.
“President Donald J. Trump is the head of the executive branch and is vested with all of the executive power in our government. I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove Commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government,” Ferguson said in a statement.
Trump fired Democratic Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who plan to sue over the decision. Both served with former chair Lina Khan and worked with her to challenge mergers. Bedoya said on social media that he had been illegally fired.
“This is corruption, plain and simple,” Bedoya said.
Democratic senators have criticized the action, including New Mexico’s Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who sits on the Senate Consumer Protection, Technology and Data Privacy subcommittee, which oversees the FTC. He joined a letter with 27 of his fellow senators calling for the firings to be reversed.
“President Trump is once again subverting the law to exert his own political agenda — one that serves the wealthiest and largest corporations and not the American people,” Luján said in a statement. “The law — which makes it clear that the president cannot fire commissioners without cause — must be upheld.”
