House Democrats’ Litigation Task Force Submits Bicameral Amicus Brief to Supreme Court, Fights Back Against Trump’s Attacks on the Federal Trade Commission
House Democrats’ Litigation Task Force mobilized 163 House and 44 Senate Democrats in support of a legal challenge to President Trump’s unlawful attempt to remove Rebecca Slaughter, a duly appointed member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The effort was spearheaded by Task Force Chair Joe Neguse (D-CO-2), House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD-8), House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8), House Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-6), and House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-12), as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Judiciary Ranking Member and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Commerce Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Senate Banking Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust Ranking Member Cory Booker (D-NJ).
Filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter, the lawmakers stood up for Congress’s Article I legislative power and asserted the need for an independent Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While Commissioners are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the actions of the FTC are intended to be shielded from presidential interference.
The agency’s mission is to protect the American public from unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive business practices. In this brief, the amici curiae argued that President Trump’s unlawful attempt to remove Commissioner Slaughter without cause jeopardizes the integrity of independent federal agencies and undermines the FTC’s ability to enforce civil antitrust laws and protect the public from fraudsters and monopolists.
The lawmakers began by asserting Congress’s interest in the matter, writing: “The aim of our Constitution, after all, is to facilitate a system of self-government. That begins with the people’s representatives deciding questions of governmental design. Accordingly, ‘[l]ong settled and established practice is a consideration of great weight’ when interpreting constitutional provisions about the structure and operation of government.”
They continued by underscoring the strong constitutional rationale of independent agencies, like the FTC, writing: “The structure of multimember independent agencies is not only entrenched by history and tradition. It also reflects an eminently reasonable interpretation of Congress’s array of Article I powers, respects the President’s Article II authority, and comports with broader constitutional values.”
Then, the lawmakers outlined the impacts of the Trump administration’s executive overreach, writing: “Indeed, at-will removals of commissioners of independent agencies would lead regulated entities and the public to believe that the President is able to pick winners and losers in the American economy through intervening in individual cases. That would detrimentally alter the way the public interacts with these regulators, and, consequently, the economic choices the regulators make.”
The full brief is available HERE.
The Democratic lawmakers first filed an amicus brief in the case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The district court ordered the reinstatement of Commissioner Slaughter, but the Trump administration appealed the decision, elevating the case to the Supreme Court. The administration’s application for a stay was granted on September 22, 2025, temporarily blocking Slaughter’s reinstatement.
For more information on the Litigation Task Force’s efforts to protect Americans against the unlawful actions of the Trump administration, visit litigationandresponse.house.gov
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