1. United States
2. Ind.
3. Letter

I need you to take action to protect America and to continue to follow our processes that are set in place for checks and balances. Trump illegally fired two commissioners on the Federal Trade Commission this week, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent. The FTC is an independent agency founded 111 years ago to fight fraudsters and monopolists. The FTC enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws and has had a bipartisan structure where no more than three of the five commissioners can come from the same party, and they are doing their jobs to protect me, my family and friends from companies, and their leaders, that try to manipulate the system for their own benefit. Trump’s actions yesterday pose a direct challenge to settled law and the power of your office for the United States. Congress established the Federal Trade Commission as an independent commission in 1914 and gave each of the FTC’s five commissioners a fixed term of office and protection from being fired by a president. In 1935, the Supreme Court upheld the law protecting FTC commissioners from being fired by a Democratic president. (Humphrey’s Executor v. the United States) The Supreme Court concluded that the FTC was a body created by Congress to perform quasi-legislative and judicial functions. I urge you to take action to rectify Trump's illegal actions and protect the American people from further impacts.