FTC Commissioners Dispute President's ‘Constitutional Right’ to Fire Them
Former FTC Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya pushed back on the president’s claims that he has the constitutional right to fire them. In a reply brief Monday, the two again asked a district court to grant summary judgment in their favor.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
A case from 1935, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, “held that the President does not have Article II authority to remove FTC Commissioners at will,” Bedoya and Slaughter said in the document. President Donald Trump’s argument that courts would interpret that case to reach the opposite conclusion “has been rejected by every court that has considered it, including this Court and the D.C. Circuit.”
Trump also asserts “this Court remains powerless to provide a meaningful remedy,” which Slaughter and Bedoya said is false. “Plaintiffs’ opening submission demonstrated that they are entitled to declaratory and injunctive relief to ensure their ability to continue as FTC Commissioners, and Defendants’ effort to rebut this showing by rehashing long-rejected and unsupported arguments falls flat,” the document said.
Accordingly, the two former commissioners asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to permanently enjoin “the Non-Presidential Defendants from interfering with Plaintiffs’ continued service as FTC Commissioners,” in addition to granting their motion for summary judgment and denying Trump’s motion for summary judgment.
Lawyers for Trump said on April 23 that the district court should summarily dismiss Slaughter and Bedoya's case, arguing firing FTC commissioners was his “constitutional right” (see 2504240027). The suit against Trump was filed on March 27 (see 2503270056).