411: Live: (Fired?) FTC Commissioners Slaughter & Bedoya

Tech Policy Podcast

TechFreedom

Technology

4.8 • 45 Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

FTC commissioners Rebecca Slaughter, Alvaro Bedoya, and Bill Kovacic speak with hosts Bilal Sayyed and Jessica Melugin at the 2025 TechFreedom / CEI Policy Summit: Constitutional Limits of FTC, FCC & DOJ Interference in Media and Speech. Links: Constitutional Limits of FTC, FCC and DOJ | Day 1 (https://tinyurl.com/3v4d7txu) Constitutional Limits of FTC, FCC and DOJ | Day 2 (https://tinyurl.com/ycxdzdme) SCOTUS Should Not Hand Sweeping Removal Powers to this President (https://tinyurl.com/34wcpyrt) Supreme Court order in Wilcox v. NLRB (https://tinyurl.com/mth9mytj) Tech Policy Podcast 410: The FTC and Online Speech: What’s Next? (https://tinyurl.com/y4kczekr) Tech Policy Podcast 409: The FTC's Quixotic Social Media Inquiry (https://tinyurl.com/3wcxj53e) Tech Policy Podcast 402: Can Trump Fire FTC Commissioners at Will? (https://tinyurl.com/jr3t44t6)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome back, the Tech Policy Podcast.
0:27.3	I'm Corbyn Barthold.
0:29.8	Today, I've got one more for you from Tech Freedom's recent policy summit with the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
0:40.0	Don't miss the other one.
0:42.7	Episode 408, featuring FCC Commissioner Ana Gomez.
0:48.9	This episode is also our third episode in a row on the FTC. I swear our next episode won't be on the FTC. But as we often say on the show, the FTC is very important. You should know all about the FTC. Listen to this one more episode on the FTC.
1:14.1	Now, there are five people on this panel, so you'll need to listen a bit closely,
1:21.8	but the payoff is worth it because it's an all-star lineup.
1:27.3	First, we have FTC commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Badoia,
1:34.0	two central figures in the current legal fight over presidential removal power.
1:40.3	They were fired by President Trump in March and are now challenging those firings in court.
1:48.0	They're probably going to lose, but no matter, it's an honor to have them on the show.
1:55.1	Next, we have Bill Kovacech, former FTC commissioner and chairman.
2:01.7	Always a very cogent voice.
2:04.2	Fourth, moderating the panel is Tech Freedom's Belal Syed,
2:09.7	former head of the FTC's Office of Policy Planning.
2:14.5	And last but not least, you'll hear CEI's Jessica Malugan pop in a few times with some provocative questions.
2:23.8	The first half of the discussion centers on whether Slaughter and Badoia can be removed at will,
2:30.6	a question that turns on the fate of Humphreyys executor, the Supreme Court's 1935 decision,
2:36.8	blessing independent agencies. The law and I dug into that topic in episode 402.
2:46.3	A few new developments here. Recently, the Supreme Court signaled in a ruling on its emergency docket that Humphreys is
2:55.4	probably toast.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 4 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TechFreedom, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TechFreedom and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.