WASHINGTON –With two former NCUA board members mulling their options after being fired by the White House, a coalition of 21 state attorneys general is expressing its support for a pair of FTC commissioners who were similarly fired.
As the CU Daily reported earlier, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have filed suit against President Trump and are challenging what they allege was an illegal termination without cause from the Commission.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to fast-track their case.
In an amicus brief, the attorneys general said they agree the two commissioners’ termination was illegal and violated longstanding Supreme Court precedent.
‘American Imperative’
“A strong and independent FTC is not a partisan issue, it is an American imperative,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in. statement. “Not only is the President’s illegal firing of the two Commissioners extremely concerning, but it is also illegal. That’s why my fellow attorneys general and I are filing this amicus brief in support of the Commissioners’ reinstatement and to ensure the agency’s ability to fully operate, free from political influence.”
In their amicus brief, the AGs further argue the President violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits the removal of FTC commissioners except for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
The brief further states the Supreme Court has affirmed the constitutionality of the Act’s removal protections in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.
Bipartisanship ‘Dismantled’
“The removal of the two Commissioners dismantles the bipartisan structure of the agency’s leadership, which ruins the FTC’s independence by allowing the commission to become a partisan agency,” the AGs stated. “This would allow the FTC to become an agency subject to the political whims of the president and unable to fully perform its function independently.”
In addition to California, AGs who also signed the brief include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
