District Judge Defends FTC's Slaughter in Latest Filing Against Trump
Upholding the firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter “destroys the independence” of the agency and hinders its ability to conduct its mission, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled in a filing Thursday.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has already issued a temporary stay blocking a ruling from AliKhan that reinstated Slaughter on the commission (see 2507220029). The Trump administration is appealing the reinstatement but also requested the district court stay the order pending appeal.
AliKhan in Thursday’s order acknowledged the circuit court’s administrative stay “freezes the proceedings independently of any action by this court,” but she felt obligated to “discharge its independent duty” to rule on the stay motion pending.
AliKhan said Slaughter’s lawsuit isn’t a typical “loss-of-employment” case. The Trump administration complains that “the court’s order blocks them from illegally dismantling the independence of an agency that Congress deliberately shielded from executive overreach. To entertain that complaint would make a mockery of the FTC, to say nothing of the separation of powers.” The district court “refuses to allow Defendants to continue breaking the law while this litigation proceeds,” she wrote.