Judge restores Democrat to Federal Trade Commission, ruling her firing
by Trump was illegal
[July 19, 2025]
By LEA SKENE and MARK SHERMAN
A federal judge has restored a Democrat to the Federal Trade Commission,
ruling that President Donald Trump illegally fired her earlier this year
in his efforts to exert control over independent agencies across the
government.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled late Thursday that federal law
protects FTC commissioners from being removed by the president without
cause, citing a key 1935 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the FTC.
The decision allows Rebecca Kelly Slaughter to resume her duties as
commissioner. The FTC website had been updated by Friday morning to show
that Slaughter is among four sitting commissioners.
Attorneys for the Trump administration almost immediately declared their
intent to appeal, and the case could make its way to the Supreme Court.
The conservative-led court already has narrowed the reach of the
90-year-old decision, known as Humphrey’s Executor, and some justices
have called for overturning it altogether.
The high court also permitted Trump to fire the heads of other
independent agencies. In May, the court allowed Trump to remove members
of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection
Board, despite lower court rulings that Humphrey’s Executor should
protect them from arbitrary dismissal.
The justices are currently weighing an emergency appeal from the
administration to oust three Democratic members of the Consumer Product
Safety Commission. Trump fired them in May, but a federal judge restored
them to their positions a month later.
The legal fight over the firings also could extend to the Federal
Reserve and the prospect of Trump firing Fed chairman Jerome Powell. The
justices suggested in May that Trump may not have the same freedom to
upend the leadership of the Fed, describing it as “a uniquely
structured, quasi-private entity.”
In her opinion, AliKhan said she was required to abide by the Humphrey’s
Executor decision, in which the court rebuffed President Franklin
Roosevelt and held that FTC commissioners could be removed only for
cause, not at the president’s whim.
She said her ruling would uphold “clearly established law that has been
enacted by a coequal branch of government, reaffirmed by another coequal
branch, and acquiesced to by thirteen executives over the course of
ninety years.”
But the judge acknowledged that hers probably would not be the last
word. “Defendants are, of course, free to take their quarrels with
Humphrey’s Executor to the Supreme Court. This court has no illusions
about where this case’s journey leads,” she wrote.
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The Federal Trade Commission building is seen, Jan. 28, 2015, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Trump fired Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, the commission’s two
Democratic members in March. The FTC is a regulator created by
Congress that enforces consumer protection measures and antitrust
legislation. Its seats typically include three members of the
president’s party and two from the opposing party. The commissioners
sued to reclaim their jobs, saying they’d been dismissed illegally.
Slaughter has four years left in her term as commissioner. Bedoya
submitted his resignation in June, and AliKhan dismissed his claim
as a result.
“As the Court recognized today, the law is clear, and I look forward
to getting back to work,” Slaughter said in a statement Thursday.
During a May court hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C.,
plaintiffs’ attorneys warned against granting the president
“absolute removal power over any executive officer,” saying it would
effectively eliminate an important check on his power.
“That has never been the case in this country,” said attorney Aaron
Crowell. “That’s not the law. That has never been the law.”
A politicized FTC also could favor powerful corporations while
driving up prices for consumers, the lawyers for the fired
commissioners said.
But attorneys for the Trump administration argued that the FTC’s
role has expanded since the 1930s, and as such, its members should
answer directly to the president.
“The president should be able to remove someone who is actively
blocking his policies, for example,” Justice Department lawyer Emily
Hall said during the hearing.
AliKhan, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Joe
Biden in 2023, noted the long line of presidents before Trump who
didn’t try to push the limits.
Commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the
Senate. They serve seven-year terms that are staggered to prevent
multiple vacancies at once. They can be fired for displaying
specific bad behaviors, including inefficiency, neglect of duty and
malfeasance in office.
Trump told Bedoya and Slaughter that he was dismissing them because
their service on the commission was inconsistent with his
administration’s priorities, according to the lawsuit.
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