Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS: Senator Cantwell urges Commerce Committee Chair Cruz to invite fired FTC Commissioners to next week’s oversight hearing, (Apr 10, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staff

On April 15, 2026, the Senate Commerce Committee will-convene-a full committee hearing to conduct oversight of the FTC.

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has sent a letter to Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) calling on him to invite fired Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioners, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, to testify at the FTC oversight hearing scheduled for April 15, 2026. According to Cantwell, President Trump’s firings of Slaughter and Bedoya were unlawful, and holding the hearing without their presence would “conveniently sidestep one of the most pressing oversight issues impacting the Commission today: President Trump’s dangerous power grab at the expense of American consumers.”

“President Trump is trying to unravel the FTC and commandeer unfettered control over its operations,” wrote Cantwell. “On March 18, 2025, Commissioner Slaughter and Commissioner Bedoya—the only two Democrats on the FTC—each received a message from the White House on President Trump’s behalf purporting to remove them as Commissioners because their continued service was ‘inconsistent with my Administration’s priorities.’ That is the only justification the President offered for their purported removals—which is clearly insufficient under the law.”

A federal district court ruled that President Trump acted unlawfully in carrying out these dismissals. The case is currently before the Supreme Court, which issued a stay under its “shadow docket.” Nevertheless, the district court decision remains the only ruling based on the merits of the case.

Cantwell notes that she joined other House and Senate Democratic leaders in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter. She also joined in the filing of an amicus brief to the U.S. District Court for D.C. in April 2025, opposing Trump’s firing of the commissioners, and led in the sending of a March 2025 letter calling on Trump to reverse the firings.

“The Supreme Court’s shadow-docket order does not constrain Congress’s constitutional oversight authority or otherwise limit this Committee’s ability to call appropriate witnesses to testify on matters under its jurisdiction,” Sen. Cantwell wrote. “To the contrary, given President Trump’s ongoing effort to undo the structural protections Congress built into the FTC, we must conduct oversight over how these unprecedented actions undermine the FTC’s ability to advance the interests of the American people—from combatting the skyrocketing costs of gas and groceries, to protecting the public from online scammers and other predatory fraudsters.”

News: Antitrust ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews