State Attorneys General Could Bolster Data Privacy Framework After Supreme Court Ruling on FTC Independence
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in *President Trump v. Slaughter*, which found that a statutory protection limiting the President's ability to remove Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners was unconstitutional, concerns have arisen regarding the independence of the FTC. This ruling means FTC commissioners are now removable by the President at will, potentially impacting the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF). The European Commission's DPF adequacy decision had explicitly cited the statutory protection against removal as a basis for the FTC's independence. Bret Cohen, Partner, Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice at Hogan Lovells, and Julian Flamant, Senior Associate, Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, suggest that U.S. state attorneys general could provide an additional layer of institutional assurance for the DPF's long-term durability. They argue that state attorneys general possess consumer protection powers similar to the FTC, have developed considerable privacy ...
