Trump administration asks US appeals court to block order reinstating FTC commissioner Slaughter

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday asked a U.S. appeals court to block a court order that allowed Democratic U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter to resume her role at the agency, despite the White House’s effort to remove her from office.

The Justice Department in a filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the lower judge’s reinstatement of Slaughter runs afoul of the president’s executive powers under the U.S. Constitution.

The administration is challenging a July 17 order by U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington that said the White House violated federal law in removing Slaughter, who was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden.

The case in the appeals court will mark the latest clash over the Republican Trump administration's efforts to fire some Democratic officials at federal agencies.

The U.S. Supreme Court in May ruled that Trump could bar two Democratic members of federal labor boards from their posts while they challenge the legality of his dismissal of them.

The White House, FTC and lawyers for Slaughter did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Slaughter and another ousted Democratic FTC commissioner, Alvaro Bedoya, sued the Trump administration in March over their removal. They said Trump violated a law that allows a president to fire an FTC member only for good cause, including neglect of duties.

Bedoya has since formally resigned from the agency.

In her ruling last week, AliKhan said the Trump administration’s attempt to remove Slaughter did not comply with removal protections in federal law.

AliKhan said the Trump administration wants “the FTC to be something it is not: a subservient agency subject to the whims of the President and wholly lacking in autonomy. But that is not how Congress structured it.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Chizu Nomiyama )