PRESS RELEASE: EPIC joins 40 consumer protection and privacy groups in amicus brief challenging Trump’s attempted firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter 

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and 39 other consumer protection, data privacy, and competition groups from 10 states and the District of Columbia submitted an amicus brief in Slaughter v. Trump, a case challenging the President’s attempted firing of Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. The brief supports Commissioner Slaughter’s reinstatement to the FTC and urges the Supreme Court to uphold nearly a century of precedent protecting members of independent agencies like the FTC from at-will presidential removal without cause. 

The brief—led by EPIC, the Consumer Federation of America, and Demand Progress Education Fund and filed by the Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice at U.C. Berkeley School of Law and the law firm Berger Montague—contends that the FTC’s independence has been critical over the years to protecting consumers and open markets.  

Nearly 100 years ago, the Supreme Court recognized that FTC decisions are driven by the expertise and “trained judgment” of the Commissioners. Removal protections have helped ensure expert-driven policy decisions on everything from tobacco warnings to data privacy and insulated the FTC from political interference and corporate corruption. Additionally, the protections that apply to the Federal Trade Commission apply to more than two dozen government agencies whose role is to protect the safety and interests of American consumers and markets against corporate wrongdoing.  

A decision to overturn these protections would allow any sitting President to corrupt independent agencies on behalf of political cronies and corporate campaign donors instead of allowing experts to focus on benefiting the American people. If tech billionaires can buy their way onto the FTC and similar agencies like the Consumer Safety Protection Commission, there won’t be anyone stopping large corporations from consolidating power and raising prices or Big Tech from harvesting and selling kids’ online data. 

“For nearly a century, Congress, the Court, the President, and the public at large have all accepted the wisdom and legality of protecting key agencies from undue political interference,” said EPIC Director of Litigation John Davisson. “Yet this administration is engaged in a radical attempt to rewrite settled constitutional law and grant itself unchecked administrative power. The Court should reject this cynical maneuver and reaffirm Congress’s authority to establish independent agencies. President Trump’s order claiming to fire Commissioner Slaughter is as illegal today as it was eight months ago.” 

Congress sought to insulate agencies like the FTC from presidential reprisal to ensure that they apply sound judgment and independent expertise. The law states that the President can only remove an FTC Commissioner for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” For nearly 100 years, the Supreme Court has upheld these removal protections established by Congress as constitutional, finding it “plain under the Constitution that illimitable power of removal is not possessed by the President.” 

Read the amicus brief here.  

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The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is a public interest research center in Washington, DC established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age. 

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is an association of non-profit consumer organizations, established in 1968, to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education. 

Demand Progress Education Fund is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) entity that educates our nearly one million members and the broader public about matters pertaining to the impacts of corporate power over our economy and democracy.