Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On September 22, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted on its emergency docket President Trump’s application for a stay of the lower federal court’s order for Rebecca Kelly Slaughter to be reinstated as FTC Commissioner after Trump fired her, and decided to revisit separation of powers issues, including whether to overrule its 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.

Trump fired Slaughter and fellow Democratic commissioner Alvaro Bedoya in March 2025, claiming that their “continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with my administration's priorities.” Slaughter and Bedoya challenged their dismissals in court, but Bedoya ultimately resigned from his position. On July 17, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in Slaughter’s favor. On September 2, 2025, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Slaughter to be reinstated, citing the “for-cause” removal protections in the FTC Act set forth in the 1935 Supreme Court decision Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. The Justice Department then appealed to the Supreme Court on an emergency basis, asking for a stay of the reinstatement order. On September 8, 2025, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order temporarily staying the reinstatement order. The Supreme Court has now stayed the District Court’s reinstatement order until the Supreme Court issues its final judgment in the matter.

In its ruling on the application for a stay, the Supreme Court granted certiorari and directed the parties to address whether the statutory removal protections for members of the FTC, which bar the President from firing FTC Commissioners except for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” violate the separation of powers and, if so, whether Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which gave Congress the power to prohibit the President from removing the commissioners of independent agencies except for cause, should be overruled. The Supreme Court also directed the parties to address whether a federal court may prevent a person’s removal from public office.