Trump fires both FTC Democrats in challenge to Supreme Court precedent
President Trump fired both Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission yesterday, advancing his administration’s claim that the president can fire FTC commissioners despite a US law and a 1935 Supreme Court ruling stating that the president cannot do so without good cause.
Trump fired Democrats Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, both of whom said the firings are illegal. Trump “tried to illegally fire me. I’ll see the president in court,” Bedoya wrote. The FTC was created “to fight fraudsters and monopolists,” but Trump “wants the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies,” Bedoya said.
A statement from Slaughter said, “The President illegally fired me from my position as a Federal Trade Commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent.” Slaughter said Trump “fears the accountability that opposition voices would provide if the president orders Chairman [Andrew] Ferguson to treat the most powerful corporations and their executives—like those that flanked the President at his inauguration—with kid gloves.”
