A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Thursday the firing of Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter by President Donald Trump earlier this year was illegal.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan, a Joe Biden appointee, ruled the Trump administration's attempt to remove Slaughter did not comply with removal protections in federal law.
The White House and FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Because those protections remain constitutional, as they have for almost a century, Ms. Slaughter's purported removal was unlawful and without legal effect," AliKhan wrote.
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."