The President Just Illegally Fired Me’: Trump Ousts FTC Commissioners Despite Supreme Court Precedent

President Donald Trump dismissed the two Democratic commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Trump fired Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter, whose seven-year terms were not set to expire until 2026 and 2029, respectively. The board, which is currently controlled by Republicans, features five Senate-confirmed commissioners, no more than three of whom may be members of the same party.

“The president just illegally fired me,” Bedoya wrote on social media. “This is corruption plain and simple.” Bedoya went on to accuse Trump of wanting “the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies.”

Bedoya said he will sue to keep his position.

The commission is responsible for civil antitrust enforcement and consumer protection, and plays a key role in mergers and acquisitions. In December, the FTC scored an injunction to block a merger of Kroger’s and Albertson’s, two large supermarket chains.

As Reuters noted, the terminations fly directly in the face of Supreme Court precedent.

In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt fired FTC Commissioner William Humphrey over policy differences. Humphrey sued, and the case – Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S. – made it to the Supreme Court.

(He died before the case was decided – hence, Humphrey’s Executor.) In a unanimous decision, the court sided with Humphrey, stating that the FTC Act, which created the board, was constitutional and that members cannot be dismissed on mere policy grounds. The court said the president did not have “illimitable power of removal” of board members.

Trump has removed members from various federal agencies and boards, prompting numerous lawsuits. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that his removal of Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board was unconstitutional and that she is still on the board.