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Democratic Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya sued President Donald Trump on March 27, 2025, after he attempted to remove them without stating a legal cause. A federal district court later ruled for Slaughter, but that was not the final word: on June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court overruled the precedent behind the district court’s decision and sent the case back for further proceedings.
Why did the Democratic FTC commissioners sue Trump?
The dispute centered on whether a president may remove FTC commissioners at will or whether federal law protects them from removal without cause. The commissioners argued that Trump’s attempted terminations violated the FTC Act’s removal protections and longstanding Supreme Court precedent. The case also raised statutory, administrative-law and constitutional questions.
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The FTC has five commissioners, who serve seven-year terms. Its work includes rulemaking, enforcement and adjudication. The dispute therefore concerned not only the two commissioners’ positions, but also the legal limits on presidential control of an agency exercising executive power.
Trump’s attempted removals were communicated on March 18, 2025. The White House email reportedly did not state a legal cause. Slaughter and Bedoya filed suit nine days later in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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What happened in court?
| Date | Stage | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| March 18, 2025 | Attempted removals | Slaughter and Bedoya were told they were being removed; the White House email reportedly gave no legal cause. |
| March 27, 2025 | Lawsuit filed | Both commissioners sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. |
| July 17, 2025 | District court decision | The court granted summary judgment to Slaughter, relying on the then-binding precedent Humphrey’s Executor. Bedoya had resigned, so the court dismissed his claim as moot. |
| September 22, 2025 | Supreme Court review | The Supreme Court granted review before the D.C. Circuit issued a final merits judgment and stayed the district court order while it considered the removal protections and whether to overrule Humphrey’s Executor. |
| December 8, 2025 | Oral argument | The Supreme Court heard argument in Trump v. Slaughter. |
| June 29, 2026 | Supreme Court decision | The Court overruled Humphrey’s Executor and remanded the case for further proceedings. |
What did the Supreme Court decide in Trump v. Slaughter?
The Supreme Court concluded that the FTC exercises executive power and rejected the constitutional framework in Humphrey’s Executor, its 1935 decision concerning removal protections for FTC commissioners. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority: “If anything more is left of Humphrey’s, we overrule it.”
The Court’s decision displaced the precedent on which the district court had relied. The case was remanded, so the Supreme Court’s decision should not be confused with a final district-court resolution of every remaining issue in Slaughter’s case. The July 2025 ruling is a historical step in the case, not the current controlling answer to the constitutional question.
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Can the president fire FTC commissioners?
In this dispute, the Supreme Court’s 2026 decision rejected the longstanding precedent that had supported FTC commissioners’ protection from removal without cause. The district court had reached the opposite result for Slaughter in 2025 because Humphrey’s Executor was then binding. The Supreme Court later overruled that precedent and sent the matter back.
The ruling directly concerned FTC commissioners. It should not be treated as a complete ruling on every removal protection at every federal agency: other statutes and disputes may present distinct legal questions.
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What happened to Slaughter and Bedoya?
Slaughter’s claim proceeded after the attempted removal and was the one on which the district court granted summary judgment. Bedoya resigned after the litigation began, and the district court dismissed his claim as moot. The Supreme Court case was titled Trump v. Slaughter.
When the commissioners announced their lawsuit, Slaughter was quoted by the advocacy group Protect Democracy as saying: “We make rules that require tech companies to protect children’s privacy online. We promote competition in the pharmaceutical industry to drive prices down. And we can do all of this because the FTC can’t be bought with campaign contributions or bullied by politicians.” That was her argument for the value of agency independence, not a judicial finding.
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