Appeals court reinstates fired Democratic FTC commissioner

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter can resume her work as a commissioner for the FTC, a federal appeals court has ruled. Slaughter, who was one of the two Democratic commissioners for the FTC that President Trump fired back in March, filed a lawsuit for her reinstatement. “Your continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with my administration’s priorities,” a letter to the commissioners said. In July, US District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled that her removal from the agency was “unlawful and without legal effect,” and Slaughter was able to go back to work. A few days later, however, an appeals court paused the order for her reinstatement.

Now, the appeals court judges voted 2-to-1 in favor of restoring AliKhan’s order. Obama appointees Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard voted to reinstate Slaughter, while Trump appointee Neomi Rao dissented. Millett and Pillard wrote in their decision that the government “has no likelihood of success on appeal given controlling and directly on point Supreme Court precedent.” They explained that a Supreme Court precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor prevents presidents from removing FTC commissioners at will and without cause. Based on federal law, commissioners can only be removed due to “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

Rao, however, has dissented. By “ordering the remaining FTC commissioners and the subordinates to treat Slaughter as though she is still in office, the district court expressly orders them to disregard the President’s directive,” she said in a statement. It “directly interferes with the President’s supervision of the Executive Branch and therefore goes beyond the power of the federal courts.” The FTC typically has five commissioners: Three from the same party as the president and two from the opposition. After Trump fired the FTC’s Democratic commissioners, only the three Republican commissioners remained.

Slaughter is now listed again on FTC’s website as a commissioner. According to The New York Times, she’s planning to report back to work today, September 3. “Amid the efforts by the Trump administration to illegally abolish independent agencies, including the Federal Reserve, I’m heartened the court has recognized that he is not above the law,” Slaughter said in an interview. Her fellow Democratic commissioner who was fired back in March, Alvaro Bedoya, resigned from the agency completely and took on a private-sector job.