Van Hollen Joins Klobuchar, Durbin, Cantwell, Colleagues Call on President Trump to Reverse the Illegal Firing of FTC Commissioners

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen joined Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law and a member of the Commerce Committee, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL), Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and over two dozen other Senators are calling on President Trump to reverse the illegal firing of Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 

“This action contradicts long standing Supreme Court precedent, undermines Congress’s constitutional authority to create bipartisan, independent commissions, and upends more than 110 years of work at the FTC to protect consumers from deceptive practices and monopoly power,” wrote the Senators. “We urge you to rescind these dismissals so the FTC can get back to the people’s work.”

“Congress established the FTC in 1914 as an independent agency made up of bipartisan, multi-member, expert commissioners who are tasked with protecting consumers,” the Senators continued. “In 2024 alone, the FTC used this authority to return more than $330 million to consumers, while simultaneously blocking anticompetitive mergers and challenging monopoly power that can result in higher prices, fewer choices, and less opportunity for American consumers, workers, and small businesses. The FTC has consistently carried out this mandate as a bipartisan commission under Republican and Democratic administrations.”

In addition to Van Hollen, Klobuchar, Durbin, and Cantwell, the letter was signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The full text of the letter is available here and below.

Dear President Trump,

On March 18, 2025 you announced your intention to fire Commissioner Slaughter and Commissioner Bedoya from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This action contradicts long standing Supreme Court precedent, undermines Congress’s constitutional authority to create bipartisan, independent commissions, and upends more than 110 years of work at the FTC to protect consumers from deceptive practices and monopoly power. We urge you to rescind these dismissals so the FTC can get back to the people’s work.

Congress established the FTC in 1914 as an independent agency made up of bipartisan, multi-member, expert commissioners who are tasked with protecting consumers. In 2024 alone, the FTC used this authority to return more than $330 million to consumers, while simultaneously blocking anticompetitive mergers and challenging monopoly power that can result in higher prices, fewer choices, and less opportunity for American consumers, workers, and small businesses. The FTC has consistently carried out this mandate as a bipartisan commission under Republican and Democratic administrations.

When establishing the FTC, Congress lawfully exercised its power to establish a bipartisan, multi-member, expert commission and to shield that commission from political pressure by allowing commissioners to serve 7-year terms and limiting the President’s power to remove commissioners only “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Under the law, as you are aware, the President retains the sole authority to nominate new commissioners and to appoint the Chair of the Commission. The President may also appoint a new Chair among the sitting commissioners at any time. 

Ninety years ago, the Supreme Court held that Congress’s authority to create bipartisan, multi-member, expert commissions—and specifically the FTC—“cannot well be doubted” because “it is quite evident that one who holds his office only during the pleasure of another cannot be depended upon to maintain an attitude of independence. . . .” In a 2020 decision involving whether Congress could insulate the single director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from at-will removal by the President, the Supreme Court declined to revisit this precedent, finding important differences between the CFPB and the FTC, including that the FTC has multiple expert members to ensure the Commission retains relevant expertise at all times, that each President can influence the makeup of the Commission by nominating new members and appointing the Chair (as you have already done), and that the Commission is funded through the traditional appropriations process that the President may influence.  

As such, the structure of the FTC does not undermine executive authority and is well within Congress’s power to establish independent agencies tasked with protecting Americans from harmful business practices, fraud, and outright corruption. As Commissioners duly appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya must be allowed to continue their work at the Commission.