Trump’s FTC Dismissals Threaten Agency’s Bipartisan Bona Fides

President Donald Trump’s sudden firing of two Democratic Federal Trade Commission members risks dismantling an image the 110-year-old agency cultivated as an independent regulator, raising questions about the long-term future of corporate enforcement.

The move, part of a broader effort by the White House to exert greater control over the “administrative state,” sets up a likely showdown at the Supreme Court over the president’s ability to fire agency leaders at will.

If Trump wins in the long run, the norms established by the FTC over the years as a bipartisan, multimember commission would be out the window, making the agency ...