• by Wendy Davis , September 12, 2025

A Florida-led coalition of two dozen states are asking the Supreme Court to allow President Donald Trump to fire Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.

"Core separation-of-powers principles, bolstered by long historical understanding, require that the President have the authority to remove at will officials like Slaughter who wield substantial executive power," Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier argues in a friend-of-the-court brief joined by 22 other state attorneys general and the Arizona legislature.

The states are weighing in on a battle dating to March, when Trump ousted Slaughter and Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, saying in a letter to them: "Your continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with my Administration’s priorities."

The move left the five-member agency with just three commissioners -- all Republicans.

Slaughter sued for reinstatement and a district court judge and appellate panel sided with her, basing their decisions on the Supreme Court's 90-year-old ruling in Humphrey's Executor. The court said in that case that Franklin D. Roosevelt couldn't oust an FTC commissioner except for three reasons set out by Congress -- inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer sought an emergency order blocking Slaughter's reinstatement, arguing that more recent Supreme Court decisions -- including its May ruling halting the reinstatement of Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris to the Merit Systems Protection -- allow Trump to fire Slaughter.

Chief Justice John Roberts granted that request Monday, temporarily halting Slaughter's return to the FTC.

This week, Florida and other states backed Trump's bid to fire Slaughter. Among other arguments, they are urging the Supreme Court to overrule Humphrey's Executor, calling the decision "the foundation for the modern ill known as the 'independent agency.'"

In 1914, when Congress established the FTC as an independent agency, lawmakers specifically provided that commissioners could only be removed for cause.

But the states claim this statutory restriction on a president's ability to fire commissioners is unconstitutional.

"The members of the FTC must be fully accountable to the President, just like any other executive officers, and cannot be shielded from presidential supervision by a statute restricting the grounds on which they may be removed," the officials argue.

Slaughter is expected to respond to the White House's petition by Monday, September 15.