1. United States
2. Wisc.
3. Letter

The president's firing of FTC Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya is an egregious violation of the law and a direct threat to the independence of the Federal Trade Commission. Since its establishment in 1914, the FTC has served as an impartial body tasked with enforcing consumer protection and antitrust regulations, shielded from undue political influence. The Supreme Court ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935) clearly affirmed that FTC commissioners cannot be removed by the president except for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. This unlawful action undermines the FTC's vital role in safeguarding fair market competition and consumer rights. I urge you to condemn this abuse of power and defend the FTC's autonomy as a critical check against corporate monopolization and anti-consumer practices. Failure to uphold the rule of law here sets a dangerous precedent that jeopardizes the integrity of all independent federal agencies. The American people depend on a functional FTC to protect their interests, and this brazen overreach must not go unchallenged.