Trump v. Slaughter · ¶159

In reaching that conclusion, the Court focused on the FTC’s “character.” Id., at 629, 631. The FTC, the Court explained, is a “body of experts” tasked with “carry[ing] into effect legislative policies embodied in the [FTC Act] in accordance with the legislative standard therein prescribed,” including by determining what constitutes “ ‘unfair methods of competition.’” Id., at 624, 628. The agency thus was not purely executive; instead, it “act[ed] in part quasi-legislatively and in part quasi-judicially” by “filling in and administering the details embodied [in the law’s] general standard.” Id., at 628. “[F]rom the very nature of its duties,” it was clear that the FTC “must . . . act with entire impartiality,” as “[i]t is charged with the enforcement of no policy except the policy of the law.” Id., at 624; see id., at 625 (relying on legislative history emphasizing the “advantage” to be…

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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