Two democratic former members of the Federal Commercial Commission sued President Trump on his decision to fire from the agency and accused him of an unlawful overlap of executive power.
Mr. Trump fired on March 18, Democratic Commissioner, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, and increased the consumer protection agency, which usually runs three members of the President and two of the hostile party.
In an application filed with the United States District Court for the Columbia district, lawyers for Mrs Slaughter and Mr. Bedoya claimed that Mr. Trump’s release was for no reason and violated federal law. Quoted and 1935 Precedent of the Supreme Court This means that the President must not fire independent members of regulatory councils only about non -confidence in the field of politics.
“In short, it is a subsoil, binding the precedent that the president cannot remove the FTC Commissioner without reason,” the action said. “According to the President, it is uncontrollable under the Government Act.”
The White House, which did not immediately respond to the request for comment, previously stated that “President Trump has legal authority to manage the staff at the executive branch”.
The lawsuit was the last legal battle that broke out over Mr. Trump’s attempts to expand the power of the Presidency. In recent months, in many cases, in many cases, the steps that the administration has taken has temporarily stopped from an aggressive attitude towards deportations to the burning of civil servants.
Legal battles were also influenced by the regulators that Congress created to be independent of direct control of the White House. While the regulatory bodies are appointed president, many have traditionally had a wide width to determine the direction of their agencies.
However, Mr. Trump previously fired Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic Council of the National Council for Working Relations, which was restored this month by the Federal Court. The administration appealed this decision.
Mr. Trump also signed a executive order last month, which influenced the FTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Commission for Communication and the National Work Relations Council. The executive order ordered these agencies to submit the proposed White House regulations to review and also declare that they must adopt as a binding interpretation of the law by the chairman and the Ministry of Justice, among other things.
Mrs. Slaughter and Mr. Bedoy’s action also appointed two Republican Commissioner FTC – chairman of Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak – as defendants. They also appointed David B. Robbins Executive Director.
The 1914 law, which founded the FTC, says that commissioners can be removed from a five -member council for “ineffectiveness, neglect of duties or incorrectness in the office”. The Supreme Court strengthened these protection at the age of 30 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to fire a member of the FTC
In a letter sent by Mr. Trump last week, he reported one of the commissioners about the end, the White House stated that the protection determined by the Supreme Court’s decision did not apply to those who led the FTC today.
On Thursday, Mr. Ferguson said in a statement published X that his “former colleagues are entitled to their day in court, but I have no doubt that President Trump’s legal powers will eventually be confirmed.”
In court proceedings, lawyers for Mrs Slaughter and Mr. Bedoya said that these two were “denied access to their offices” and have now been mentioned as former members of the Commission on the FTC website. According to court proceedings, their employees were also.
FTC was responsible for some of the biggest clearing between corporate America and the federal government. In April, the agency is scheduled to face the meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and other applications, in antitrust court proceedings about whether the technology giant illegally suppressed the born competitors when bought Instagram and WhatsApp.
FTC also filed actions against Amazon, claiming that it made it difficult for consumers to cancel its main subscription and pressed small traders using its site.
According to Mr. Ferguson, the agency is increasingly focusing on the power of large online platforms over speech and discourse. Last year, the agency began to apply for comments from people and business who stated that their contributions were incorrectly removed by social media websites.
