Trump illegally fires Democratic members of the FTC

Trump fired the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, a rejection of the corporate regulator’s traditional independence that will clear the way for the administration’s agenda and could draw a legal challenge.

The White House told the Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, that the president was terminating their roles. Congress created the F.T.C. to enforce consumer protection and antitrust laws. It typically has five members, with the president’s party holding three seats and the opposing party two.

“Today the president illegally fired me from my position as a federal trade commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent,” Ms. Slaughter said in a statement.

www.nytimes.com/…
 

As with the firing of the member of the N.L.R.B., now in court, www.nytimes.com/…, this is part of the administration’s effort to get the Supreme Court to overturn a 90-year old precedent, www.law.cornell.edu/…, in order to make the president a de facto King.  At least Republican presidents, that is.