Amicus Brief: Trump v. Slaughter
COSAL and the American Antitrust Institute jointly filed the an amicus brief in support of Respondent Rebecca Kelly Slaughter in the matter Trump v. Slaughter currently before the Supreme Court.
As argued in the brief, not only does the text of the Constitution not compel bestowing an unrestrained removal power on the President, the FTC’s current structure (with for-cause removal for Commissioners) also is good for antitrust policy. Specifically, (1) Congress intentionally designed the FTC to be a consensus-driven, expert-led, antitrust-enforcement body in response to public dissatisfaction with the enforcement and interpretation of the Sherman Act; (2) in spite of restrictions placed on the President’s ability to remove Commissioners, the President nevertheless maintains and exercises substantial control over the FTC’s functions; and (3) abandoning the FTC’s independence would contravene the international consensus that apolitical antitrust enforcement leads to healthy, reliable competition policy, would undermine U.S. antitrust enforcement and its credibility abroad, and would facilitate corporate capture of antitrust enforcement bodies. Thus, the brief argues, the Court should uphold the limited restrictions on the President’s removal power, as invalidating them will harm U.S. consumers, businesses, and antitrust policy.
