Chief Justice Roberts Allows Trump To Fire FTC Commissioner

Chief Justice John Roberts has issued an emergency order allowing President Donald Trump to temporarily remove Rebecca Kelly Slaughter from her position as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), pending further review by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

This interim relief halts a lower court mandate that had required Slaughter's reinstatement, providing the Trump administration with immediate authority to proceed without her involvement while the justices deliberate on the broader merits of the case.

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The case stems from Trump's decision earlier in 2025 to remove Slaughter, a Democratic appointee and acting FTC chair under the Biden administration, from the five-member commission. Slaughter, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021, had been a key figure in the FTC's aggressive antitrust enforcement, including challenges to major tech mergers and consumer protection initiatives. 

Trump argued that her removal was necessary to install a commissioner aligned with his administration's priorities, such as deregulation and a more business-friendly approach to competition policy.

However, Slaughter and the FTC's Democratic commissioners challenged the removal in federal court, citing the FTC's organic statute (15 U.S.C. § 41 et seq.), which stipulates that commissioners serve fixed seven-year terms and can only be removed by the president "for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office."