On Tuesday, President Trump fired the two democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission, a refusal of the traditional independence of the company regulator who could clarify the way for the administration’s agenda.
The White House told the Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, that the president was interrupting their roles, according to the couple’s statements. The FTC, which imposes consumer protection and antitrust laws, generally has five members, with the president of the president in possession of three seats and the opposing party two.
The members of the FTC and other independent regulatory councils are protected from removal pursuant to a precedent of the 1935 Supreme Court which states that the president could not fire them exclusively for political disagreements. Mrs. Slaughter and Mr. Bedoya said they planned to challenge Mr. Trump’s decision in court.
“Today the president illegally fired me from my position as a federal commercial commissioner, violating the simple language of a statute and a clear previous of the Supreme Court,” said Mrs. Slaughter, which Trump appointed to FTC during his first term in 2018, in a note. “Why?
In an interview, Mr. Bedoya, who became a commissioner three years ago, said he was worried that an FTC without independence by the president would be subject to the whims of the allies of the business world of Mr. Trump.
“When people listen to this news, they don’t have to think about me,” he said. “They have to think about the billionaires behind the president of his inauguration.”
Scari are Trump’s last attempt to assert the power of the presidency on the independent regulators of agencies within the government of the United States, including those that Congress was preparing to be independent of the direct control of the White House. While the regulators are appointed by the president, many of them have traditionally kept ample latitude to determine the direction of their agencies.
But the Trump administration has ignored their traditional protections.
“I am writing to inform you that you were removed from the Federal Trade Commission, with immediate effect,” said a letter sent to one of the commissioners, which was examined by the New York Times. “Your continuous APTC service is incompatible with the priorities of my administration.”
The republican president of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, declared Tuesday in a statement that the agency would continue to protect consumers but supported the authority of Mr. Trump to fire the commissioners.
“President Donald J. Trump is the head of the executive branch and is invested with all the executive power of our government,” said Ferguson. “I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove the commissioners, which is necessary to guarantee democratic responsibility for our government”.
A spokesman for the White House did not immediately respond to a commentary request.
The fires followed an executive order of Trump last month who sought greater authority on FTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.
The order required independent agencies to present their regulations proposed to the White House for the review, said the power to block these agencies of funds on projects or efforts that are in conflict with the presidential priorities and have declared that they must accept the interpretation of the department of the President and the Department of Justice as a binding.
In January, Trump fired Gwynne A. Wilcox, a Democratic member of the NLRB who sued to challenge his dismissal and a judge restored it at the beginning of this month. The administration appealed to this sentence.
The Department of Justice no longer provides to defend itself as a constitutional, the Supreme Court preceding the regulators only for the cause, according to a letter dated 12 February that the attorney general of acting, Sarah M. Harris, sent to Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of the Illinois. The analysis of the Department applies to the FTC, NLRB and the Commission for the safety of consumer products, according to the letter, which was reported for the first time by Reuters.
The letter sent to one of the FTC commissioners on behalf of Mr. Trump Tuesday reiterated this position. The protections of the Supreme Court do not adapt to “the main officers who are the head of the FTC today,” said the letter.
Rebecca Haw Allensworth, professor at the Vanderbilt Law School who studies Antitrust, said that the FTC had been established as an independent agency in 1914 “on the theory that consumer protection and the various objectives of the FTC were better addressed with less political means”.
“If we introduce the idea of heaps and political shots there, which really serves to undermine both the things that the FTC can do both its legitimacy as a bipartisan institution,” he said.
The company managers and their consultants are looking closely at the management of the FTC under Mr. Ferguson, his new president. During the Biden administration, the FTC sued to block company mergers, companies punished aggressively for bankruptcies for the deprivation of users and has intended a wide cause accusing Amazon of squeezing small businesses. He is destined to face destination during a trial in April examining the strategy of the social media company in the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp to cement his domain.
Mrs. Slaughter and Mr. Bedoya have constantly voted in favor of actions to curb the power of the giants of technology.
After Mr. Trump appointed Mrs. Slaughter to the majority-rejolycarial commission in 2018 to fill a non-expired mandate, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appointed him for a seven-year mandate in February 2023. He previously served as head of the Senator Chuck Schumer in New York, the current leader of minorities and led his conference work on telecommunication and technology.
Mr. Bedoya, former head of a technological and privacy center at Georgetown University and the Senate, joined the FTC in May 2022 after Mr. Biden appointed him.
In the interview, Mr. Bedoya said he learned about Mr. Trump’s decision when he received a call from Mrs. Slaughter while he was at the gymnastics lesson of his daughter.
“He’s trying to fire me,” Badoya said. “I am still an FTC commissioner and I go to court to make sure it is clear to everyone.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democratic of Minnesota, defined the “outrageous” and “illegal” fires and warned that the actions would damage consumers. The orders of 2023 of the agency on practices such as hidden commissions and winging involved a return of $ 330 million to consumers, said.
“I illegally selling off the commission will authorize scammers and monopolists and consumers will pay the price,” said Mrs. Klobuchar, who is part of the judicial subcommittee of the Senate for antitrust rights and consumers.