D.C. Memo: Commissioner Melissa Holyoak Leaves FTC to be Interim U.S. Attorney in Utah
Supreme Court to hear fired FTC Democrat Rebecca Slaughter's case on Dec. 8
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FTC: The Federal Trade Commission is again down to just two Commissioners – FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador, both Republicans. That’s because Republican FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak left the agency Monday to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Utah at the request of Attorney General Pam Bondi. Holyoak joined the FTC in March 2024 after being nominated by President Joe Biden in July 2023 and confirmed by the Senate in 2025. “Melissa is a woman of keen judgment, deep integrity, and unfailing commitment to the rule of law,” Ferguson said Monday in a statement. “It has been a blessing to serve alongside her for almost four years as fellow Commissioners and state solicitors general. She will be sorely missed at the FTC.” In March, President Trump fired FTC Democrats Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter. They both sued, but Bedoya dropped out of the case that Slaughter has pursued all they way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Oral arguments in Slaughter’s case are scheduled for Dec. 8. The case will center on the Supreme Court’s 1935 precedent in Humphrey’s Executor, which protected FTC Commissioners from presidential removal except for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. Trump has not nominated Democratic replacements for the two dismissed members — but is expected to tap Ryan Baasch, a Republican staffer on the White House’s National Economic Council, to take Holyoak’s spot. (More after paywall.)
