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Trump's FTC

FTC now has three Republicans and no Democrats instead of the typical 3-2 split

Senate puts third Republican on FTC while two Democrats sue Trump over firings.

Jon Brodkin – | 85
A man sits in front of a microphone while speaking at a Congressional hearing.
Mark Meador, President Trump's nominee to the Federal Trade Commission, speaks during a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg
Mark Meador, President Trump's nominee to the Federal Trade Commission, speaks during a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg
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The Federal Trade Commission now has three commissioners, and all of them are Republicans.

The FTC historically had a 3–2 partisan split, with the president's party having a one-seat advantage. But President Trump fired FTC Democrats Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter last month, and the Senate yesterday confirmed Trump nominee Mark Meador to the agency's third Republican spot.

The Senate vote was 50–46 and went along party lines. "I respect Mr. Meador's qualifications and his prior experiences... But I cannot support the confirmation of any additional members to the FTC until Commissioner Slaughter and Commissioner Bedoya are reinstated," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said yesterday. "President Trump's dismissal of Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya is not only illegal; it hurts consumers and small businesses by undermining the independence of the Agency that Congress established to protect consumers from fraud, scams, and monopoly power. An independent FTC is critical for protecting consumers and has done so in a bipartisan manner for over 110 years."

The consumer protection and competition agency will now operate with a 3–0 Republican advantage while the two Democrats ousted by Trump seek a court order that would reinstate them.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who previously backed Trump's authority to fire commissioners, said that Meador "is a brilliant antitrust lawyer who will be a great asset to the Trump-Vance FTC." Meador was previously a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation Tech Policy Center, an antitrust and competition policy counsel for Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a trial attorney for the Justice Department during Trump's first term, and an attorney at the FTC.

Trump control over “independent” FTC

A 3–0 Republican advantage helps Trump extend the executive branch's control over agencies that historically operated independently from the White House. Trump previously issued an executive order declaring "Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch," while the White House said the order applies to "so-called independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)."

After declaring the FTC to be under White House control, Trump fired both Democratic members despite a US law and Supreme Court precedent stating that the president cannot fire commissioners without good cause.

House Commerce Committee leaders said the all-Republican FTC will end the "partisan mismanagement" allegedly seen under the Biden-era FTC and then-Chair Lina Khan. "In the last administration, the FTC abandoned its rich bipartisan tradition and historical mission, in favor of a radical agenda and partisan mismanagement," said a statement issued by Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky) and Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.). "The Commission needs to return to protecting Americans from bad actors and preserving competition in the marketplace."

Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge thanked Senate Democrats for voting against Meador. "In order for the FTC to be effective, it needs to have five independent commissioners doing the work," said Sara Collins, the group's director of government affairs. "By voting 'no' on this confirmation, these senators have shown that it is still important to prioritize protecting consumers and supporting a healthier marketplace over turning a blind eye to President Trump's unlawful termination of Democratic Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya."

Democrats sue Trump

The two Democrats are challenging the firings in a lawsuit that said "it is bedrock, binding precedent that a President cannot remove an FTC Commissioner without cause." Trump "purported to terminate Plaintiffs as FTC Commissioners, not because they were inefficient, neglectful of their duties, or engaged in malfeasance, but simply because their 'continued service on the FTC is' supposedly 'inconsistent with [his] Administration's priorities,'" the lawsuit said.

US law says an FTC commissioner "may be removed by the President for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office." A 1935 Supreme Court ruling said that "Congress intended to restrict the power of removal to one or more of those causes."

Slaughter and Bedoya sued Trump in US District Court for the District of Columbia and asked the court to declare "the President's purported termination of Plaintiffs Slaughter and Bedoya unlawful and that Plaintiffs Slaughter and Bedoya are Commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission."

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Jon Brodkin Senior IT Reporter
Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.
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