Federal Trade Commission; independent agency enforcing antitrust and consumer protection law
Background
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent regulatory agency established in 1914 to enforce federal antitrust and consumer protection law. It’s governed by five commissioners serving staggered seven year terms, with no more than three from the same political party, and its commissioners’ protection from at-will removal was upheld by the Supreme Court in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), the leading precedent shielding independent agencies from direct presidential control. Executive Order 14215, signed by Donald Trump in February 2025, required the FTC to submit its regulations for White House review and placed its spending and performance standards under OMB oversight. In March 2025, Trump fired the FTC’s two Democratic commissioners without cause, a removal both commissioners challenged as unlawful under Humphrey’s Executor.