Judge Reinstates FTC Commissioner Whom Trump Sought to Fire (2)

A federal judge reinstated FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter in a Thursday ruling, months after President Donald Trump sought to fire her and Democratic colleague Alvaro Bedoya.

“The law on the removal of FTC Commissioners is clear,” Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said, declaring that Slaughter “remains a rightful member of the Federal Trade Commission until the expiration of her Senate-confirmed term on September 25, 2029.”

The ruling applied a 90-year-old Supreme Court decision, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, holding that FTC commissioners are protected from removal by the president except for cause.

The case has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s efforts to remake the administrative state by firing agency members who aren’t politically aligned.

The US Supreme Court foreshadowed a willingness to revisit that case in May, when it allowed the firings of members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board to stand while their separate legal challenges played out.

But for now, AliKhan said Humphrey’s Executor “remains binding on this court.”

“Defendants ask this court to ignore the letter of Humphrey’s Executor and embrace the critiques from its detractors,” she said. “Defendants hope that, after doing so, this court will bless what amounts to the implied overruling of a ninety-year-old, unanimous, binding precedent.”

“The court cannot, and will not, fulfill that request.”

The Trump administration late Thursday filed a notice of appeal and sought to stay the court’s order, saying the relief granted is an " extraordinary intrusion” of the president’s authority.

Trump officials said they made a strong showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their appeal. Recent rulings, including the Supreme Court’s May stay, weigh heavily in favor of halting the ruling, they said.

Back to Office

The ruling said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and other commission officials are barred from “removing Ms. Slaughter from her lawful position as an FTC Commissioner or otherwise interfering with Ms. Slaughter’s right to perform her lawful duties as an FTC Commissioner until the expiration of her term or unless she is lawfully removed by the President for ‘inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.’”

The FTC and Slaughter’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for for comment.

In February, Ferguson publicly supported undoing the removal protections of Humphrey’s Executor, saying then that “shielding powerful bureaucrats from political accountability is deeply anti-democratic.”

AliKhan also ordered the agency “to provide Ms. Slaughter with access to any government facilities, resources, and equipment necessary for her to perform her lawful duties as an FTC Commissioner during the remainder of her term.”

Slaughter and Bedoya sued the Trump administration in March, shortly after their firing, to be reinstated. The claims of Bedoya, who has since resigned while pressing on with the lawsuit, were dismissed Thursday as moot.

Slaughter is represented by Clarick Gueron Reisbaum LLP and Protect Democracy Project.

The case is Slaughter v. Trump, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00909, 7/17/25.