Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On August 8, 2022, Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips announced that he plans to resign from the Federal Trade Commission in the fall after serving four years with the agency. Phillips was appointed by former President Donald Trump in May 2018 and is one of the two Republican commissioners on the FTC alongside Commissioner Christine S. Wilson. Commissioner Phillips had served as chief counsel to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) before joining the FTC.

In his announcement, Commissioner Phillips said that “serving the American people by working with my extraordinary fellow commissioners and the incredible career staff at the agency to protect American consumers has been the honor of my lifetime.  . . . I have learned so much from all my colleagues over the last four years and am inspired by the commitment that they bring to the incredible work of the FTC. Over the coming weeks, I look forward to working with my fellow commissioners and all FTC staff to further our mission of protecting competition and consumers.” His statement laid out no specific causes for his departure although he mentioned in an interview that one of the contributing factors to his decision to be the “unwillingness of the majority to build consensus.”

The FTC confirmed Phillips’s departure the same day and the FTC’s Chair, Lina Khan, thanked him in her statement “for his years of service to the commission and to the American public” and added “[h]is deeply thoughtful and lively contributions have enriched the agency's work, and I've greatly enjoyed working with him.” The FTC is headed by five Commissioners, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, each serving a seven-year term. In May 2022, the Senate confirmed Alvaro Bedoya as the new FTC Commissioner, who will serve a term of seven years from September 26, 2019, as he replaces former FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra.