Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Fired FTC Commissioner
Slaughter returns to work.
WASHINGTON, July 21, 2025 – A federal judge ruled that Rebecca Kelly Slaughter remains a “rightful member” of the Federal Trade Commission, declaring her March firing unlawful.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Loren L. Alikhan sided with Slaughter, a Democratic FTC Commissioner re-nominated by President Biden in 2023. The ruling found that President Trump’s decision to remove her violated a longstanding legal precedent.
Slaughter and fellow Democratic Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya were fired by President Trump on March 18. The two filed a lawsuit, Slaughter v. Trump, challenging the legality of their removal. They argued that the firings violated the Supreme Court’s 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor, which upheld Congress’s authority to limit the president’s power to dismiss officials from independent federal agencies.
During a May 20 hearing, Judge Alikhan stated that siding with the president would overturn the 90-year-old precedent set by Humphrey’s Executor.
In her recent opinion, Judge AliKhan wrote, “Because those protections remain constitutional, as they have for almost a century, Ms. Slaughter’s purported removal was unlawful and without legal effect.”
Although Slaughter is returning to the FTC, Bedoya will not. He formally stepped down from his position on June 9, stating that personal financial difficulties prohibited him from continuing with the lawsuit.
“As the Court recognized today, the law is clear, and I look forward to getting back to work,” Slaughter said in a statement. “The for-cause removal protections that apply to my colleagues and me at the FTC also protect other independent economic regulators like the SEC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve.”
Notably, Slaughter did not include the Federal Communications Commission in that list.
The FTC has since restored Slaughter’s profile on its leadership webpage, listing her as a Commissioner alongside Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson and Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Mark R. Meador.
The Trump administration already announced plans to appeal, potentially sending the case to the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the President’s constitutional authority to fire and remove executive officers who exercise his authority,” White House Spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will appeal this unlawful decision and look forward to victory on this issue.”
The FTC did not respond to a request for comment.
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