Senate Commerce Democrat criticizes Supreme Court ruling on FTC removal powers

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Supreme Court ruling on FTC removal

Highlights

Senator Maria Cantwell criticizes the Supreme Court's conservative majority for overturning a 91-year-old precedent and weakening protections for independent agencies.
Cantwell connects the ruling to broader Trump-era actions undermining agency independence, including the firing of officials at the FTC and Surface Transportation Board in 2025.
She urges Congressional action to preserve bipartisan, expert-led agency decisions, warning that the ruling enables increased political interference in regulatory outcomes.

Cantwell outlines concerns over agency independence

As stated by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Senator Maria Cantwell says the court's conservative majority overturns a 91-year-old precedent and weakens protections designed to keep independent agencies insulated from short-term political pressure.

Cantwell argues Congress created such agencies to support bipartisan, expert-led and fact-based decisions, and says the ruling opens the way for politics rather than the public interest to shape future outcomes. She says Congress must act to preserve agencies' ability to deliver independent results for Americans.

Broader dispute over Trump-era removals

The statement places the ruling within Cantwell's wider campaign against what she describes as Trump administration power grabs affecting independent bodies. In April, she sent a letter to Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz urging him to invite FTC Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya to testify at an FTC oversight hearing.

It also cites a series of earlier actions tied to the same issue. In November 2025, Cantwell joined other House and Senate Democratic leaders in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter, while in September 2025 she condemned the firing of Surface Transportation Board member Robert Primus.

Separately, Cantwell filed an amicus brief to the U.S. District Court for D.C. in April 2025 opposing Trump's firing of commissioners, and led a March 2025 letter calling on him to reverse those removals. The statement also notes that in October 2025 she led a letter opposing the White House's move to replace NTSB Vice Chair Alvin Brown, and that in April 2025 she warned on the Senate floor that a Republican-only FTC would threaten the agency's independence.

Our earlier coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s authority to remove an FTC commissioner explained how the decision could broaden White House control over independent regulators. We noted that weakening “for-cause” removal protections may make it easier for presidents to dismiss agency officials and potentially reshape enforcement priorities such as antitrust and consumer protection.

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