Fired FTC Commissioners Sue Trump, Say Terminations Were Illegal

Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter were fired by the president.

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on March 26, 2025. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Two fired Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners on March 27 sued President Donald Trump over their terminations.

“Plaintiffs bring this action to vindicate their right to serve the remainder of their respective terms, to defend the integrity of the Commission, and to continue their work for the American people,” the lawsuit, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, states.

The law creating the FTC established that it shall have five commissioners who serve staggered seven-year terms. The statute also says a commissioner can be removed by a president only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 1935 ruling called Humphrey’s Executor said that Congress was able to restrict the president’s power to remove members of the FTC unless there was just cause, a restriction later specified as allowed for other independent agencies.

“In short, it is bedrock, binding precedent that a President cannot remove an FTC Commissioner without cause,” the suit says. “And yet that is precisely what has happened here: President Trump has purported to terminate Plaintiffs as FTC Commissioners, not because they were inefficient, neglectful of their duties, or engaged in malfeasance, but simply because their ‘continued service on the FTC is’ supposedly ’inconsistent with [his] Administration’s priorities.'”

The fired commissioners are asking the court to declare the terminations illegal and permanently block the FTC from preventing them from continuing their work until their terms expire.

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter was nominated to serve as a Democrat FTC commissioner by Trump during his first term and was renominated by then-President Joe Biden in 2024. Her term expires in 2029.

Alvaro Bedoya, another Democrat commissioner, was nominated by Biden and is set to serve until September 2026 if the suit is successful.

The FTC law requires no more than three of the five commissioners to be of the same party.

Trump fired the commissioners earlier in March.

Republican FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement that Trump holds the power to remove commissioners from agencies such as the FTC.

“My Democrat former colleagues are entitled to their day in court, but I have no doubt that President Trump’s lawful powers will ultimately be confirmed,“ he said. ”In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission will continue its tireless work to protect consumers from unlawful monopolies and fraud.”

U.S. district courts have previously reinstated Gwynne Wilcox, a National Labor Relations Board member, and Merit Systems Protection board member Cathy Harris, who were both fired by Trump.

An appeals court appeared skeptical of arguments from Harris during a March 18 hearing, but has not yet ruled on the case.