Updated July 23
The Trump administration won an emergency motion for administrative stay and stay pending appeal against Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit court Monday.
A further ruling be on hold until July 29 (PDF), the court determined. The defendants said (PDF) the lower court's ruling was "in defiance" of recent Supreme Court decisions and a "grave harm" to separation of powers.
"I'll continue to fight my illegal firing and see this case through, because part of why Congress created independent agencies is to ensure transparency and accountability," said Slaughter in a statement on X.
Slaughter filed an opposition to the appeals court decision Tuesday, citing the harm to the plaintiff if she is, unfairly, not able to serve as commissioner. She was relisted on the FTC website after the lower court's ruling July 18, but removed again (PDF) Monday.
Published July 18
FTC commissioner firing was unlawful, district judge rules
Slaughter was unfairly fired by President Donald Trump, a federal judge for the District Court for the District of Columbia determined Thursday.
Slaughter, and co-commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, sued the administration in March, asking to enjoin any action preventing them from completing their duties as commissioners and serving out the rest of their terms. They called Trump's actions a "direct violation of a century of federal law and Supreme Court precedent."
The court granted Slaughter's request. Bedoya resigned from the FTC in June and joined the anti-monopoly think tank American Economic Liberties Project. His claims were dismissed due to his resignation.
"But for the time being, defendants’ attempt to remove Ms. Slaughter from her position as an FTC Commissioner did not comply with the FTC Act’s removal protections," said the judge in her ruling. "Because those protections remain constitutional, as they have for almost a century, Ms. Slaughter’s purported removal was unlawful and without legal effect."
In a post on X, Slaughter Friday said she was "excited" to be returning to work, snapping a photo outside the FTC building in Washington, D.C. She continued: "It's time the FTC gets back to protecting consumers from real abuses." The other commissioners are required to give her access to all government resources and facilities.
Slaughter was nominated by Trump to the FTC in 2018, beginning her seven-year term after Senate confirmation. She was renominated by President Joe Biden in 2023 for another seven-year term. But Trump unceremoniously fired Slaughter and Bedoya, and legal experts viewed the move as Trump's wish to test the long-time precedent of independent agency power in front of the Supreme Court. The district court judge agreed.
"This court has no illusions about where this case’s journey leads," the opinion reads.
Attorneys for the FTC said the relief given by the district court "constitutes an extraordinary intrusion into the President's authority," and that a stay on the ruling should be applied.
The FTC is tasked with making determinations on antitrust matters. Former Chair—Lina Khan, appointed under Biden—became well-known for her decisions to thwart mergers and acquisitions, investigate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and attempt to outlaw noncompete agreements, among many other priorities.
Her replacement, Chair Andrew Ferguson, most recently hosted a day-long workshop to investigate whether there is "deceptive marketing" in providing gender-affirming care to minors. He also opted to unrecuse himself from the agency's legal battles against PBMs, so proceedings could continue uninterrupted while the agency lacked a quorum.