ANALYSIS: Legislative Fix for FTC Remedies Faces Uphill Path

The Federal Trade Commission wants to resume seeking disgorgement for consumer redress in the consumer fraud cases and other unfair trade complaints it brings in federal court. But the legislative fix that it needs to do so—a fix that the U.S. Supreme Court all but mandated last month—faces long odds of passing into law anytime soon.

The Supreme Court’s April 22 decision in AMG Capital Mgmt. v. FTC means that the FTC must pivot almost entirely away from bringing consumer protection actions in federal court and instead rely on its cumbersome administrative process to seek consumer redress. Antitrust cases like ...