The Federal Trade Commission FTC

The FTC was the Progressive answer to the trusts. The Sherman Act of 1890 had outlawed monopolies but left enforcement to courts that moved slowly and read the law narrowly. Woodrow Wilson wanted an expert commission that could police competition continuously, and the Federal Trade Commission Act, signed on September 26, 1914, created one with authority to stop unfair methods of competition. The Clayton Act, passed weeks later, gave it specific powers over mergers. In 1938 Congress added unfair or deceptive acts or practices, the foundation of its consumer protection mission.

The commission works on two tracks. Its Bureau of Competition shares antitrust enforcement with the Justice Department, reviewing large mergers before they close under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and challenging those that would reduce competition, along with monopolization and collusion. Its Bureau of Consumer Protection pursues false advertising, scams, deceptive pricing, data privacy and security failures, and violations of laws ranging from the Do Not Call Registry to children's online privacy. Its Bureau of Economics supports both. The agency brings cases in federal court or before its own administrative law judges and returns hundreds of millions of dollars a year to defrauded consumers.

The FTC is the model of the independent regulatory commission. Its five commissioners serve staggered seven-year terms, no more than three from one party, and the statute allows removal only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. When Franklin Roosevelt fired a commissioner over policy disagreements, the Supreme Court held in Humphrey's Executor v. United States in 1935 that Congress could protect such officials from at-will removal, a decision that became the constitutional foundation for independent agencies across the government. The agency has about 1,300 employees.

That foundation was overturned in 2026. In March 2025 the President fired the commission's two Democratic members without cause, arguing that the Constitution gives the President authority over all executive officers and that Humphrey's Executor should be overruled. The Supreme Court allowed the removal to stand while it considered the case, Trump v. Slaughter, and on June 29, 2026, it ruled 6 to 3 that the FTC's removal protection is unconstitutional, so commissioners now serve at the President's pleasure. On substance, the FTC under both parties has pursued major cases against large technology platforms, including a monopolization suit against Meta and enforcement against Amazon.