What happened
In Trump v. Slaughter (decided ~29 June 2026), the US Supreme Court overturned Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935), ruling 6–3 that the President may remove FTC commissioners at will, without cause. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the FTC 'unquestionably exercises executive power, and must therefore be controlled by the Chief Executive.' The ruling applies to all independent regulatory commissions. The FTC's for-cause removal protection was held unconstitutional. This ruling directly followed and enabled the Trump administration's firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. Former FTC staffer (now at OpenAI) Ben Rossen publicly stated the decision 'will have major implications for the future of AI regulation.'
Why it matters
The FTC is the primary US federal AI consumer-protection and enforcement agency. Removing its structural independence means AI enforcement priorities are now directly subject to presidential direction. Combined with the simultaneous FTC proposed policy statement on state AI preemption (1 July), this ruling dramatically centralises US AI governance under executive control. It removes the bipartisan checks previously built into the FTC's structure, and signals that AI enforcement under Section 5 will track administration priorities rather than independent commissioner judgement.
Action needed
Board-level governance teams should reassess FTC enforcement risk modelling given that enforcement priorities will now track administration policy shifts. State AGs and state AI laws become relatively more important as a counterweight. Monitor for FTC leadership changes and revised enforcement agenda.