{"id":108562,"date":"2025-02-18T15:03:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T23:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/18\/ftc-cuts-ties-with-american-bar-association\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T15:03:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T23:03:31","slug":"ftc-cuts-ties-with-american-bar-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/18\/ftc-cuts-ties-with-american-bar-association\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Cuts Ties With American Bar Association"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another sign that the Trump II administration is taking a sharper turn to the right than his previous time in office happened on Friday when the Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson announced the agency was over the American Bar Association. Specifically, the new policy<\/a> \u201cprohibits FTC political appointees from holding leadership roles in the American Bar Association (ABA), participating in ABA events, or renewing their ABA memberships. Additionally, the FTC will no longer use its resources to support any employee\u2019s ABA membership or participation in ABA activities.\u201d As a reminder, the ABA is a nonpartisan organization, and the country\u2019s largest voluntary bar association.<\/p>\n

The letter \u2014 available in full below \u2014 has big got-a-C-in-contracts-gunner energy. Ferguson accuses the ABA of a \u201clong history of leftist advocacy\u201d and \u201crecent attacks on the Trump-Vance Administration\u2019s governing agenda.\u201d He continues:<\/p>\n

\n

The President of the ABA recently issued a statement accusing the Trump-Vance Administration of \u201cwide-scale affronts to the rule of law.\u201d What followed was a breathless screed leveled against President Donald J. Trump\u2019s swift and tireless delivery on his promises to the American people to confront our existential immigration crisis and end waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. This statement was not a sober assessment of the law. It was a collection of Democrat political talking points with the ABA\u2019s logo affixed at the top.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ah yes, the \u201ccollection of Democrat political talking points\u201d that quotes<\/a> *checks notes* a Reagan judge<\/a>. Hm. Maybe the ABA\u2019s position isn\u2019t as one-sided as Ferguson would like to pretend it is.<\/p>\n

The letter also slams the ABA for being in bed with Big Tech. Listen, there are legitimate concerns about the revolving door <\/a>between government and private sector \u2014 just ask Ed Martin<\/a> \u2014 yet this perennial issue doesn\u2019t feel like the motivating factor behind the FTC\u2019s petty move. Even the specific evidence Ferguson uses to extend his case is from 2022, when the ABA Antitrust Section opposed the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, sponsored by<\/a>\u2026 Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. Sigh. There appears to be more than a little bit of tension between Ferguson\u2019s first and second argument. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration has proven in the less-than-a-month it\u2019s been back in charge they\u2019re willing to go scorched earth. The ABA smacked at the administration, so now the FTC won\u2019t pay their employees\u2019 $195 membership fee. I\u2019m sure this isn\u2019t the last tit-for-tat we\u2019ll see out of the Trump II reign.<\/p>\n

aba-letter_ferguson<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post FTC Cuts Ties With American Bar Association<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another sign that the Trump II administration is taking a sharper turn to the right than his previous time in office happened on Friday when the Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson announced the agency was over the American Bar Association. Specifically, the new policy<\/a> \u201cprohibits FTC political appointees from holding leadership roles in the American Bar Association (ABA), participating in ABA events, or renewing their ABA memberships. Additionally, the FTC will no longer use its resources to support any employee\u2019s ABA membership or participation in ABA activities.\u201d As a reminder, the ABA is a nonpartisan organization, and the country\u2019s largest voluntary bar association.<\/p>\n

The letter \u2014 available in full below \u2014 has big got-a-C-in-contracts-gunner energy. Ferguson accuses the ABA of a \u201clong history of leftist advocacy\u201d and \u201crecent attacks on the Trump-Vance Administration\u2019s governing agenda.\u201d He continues:<\/p>\n

\n

The President of the ABA recently issued a statement accusing the Trump-Vance Administration of \u201cwide-scale affronts to the rule of law.\u201d What followed was a breathless screed leveled against President Donald J. Trump\u2019s swift and tireless delivery on his promises to the American people to confront our existential immigration crisis and end waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. This statement was not a sober assessment of the law. It was a collection of Democrat political talking points with the ABA\u2019s logo affixed at the top.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ah yes, the \u201ccollection of Democrat political talking points\u201d that quotes<\/a> *checks notes* a Reagan judge<\/a>. Hm. Maybe the ABA\u2019s position isn\u2019t as one-sided as Ferguson would like to pretend it is.<\/p>\n

The letter also slams the ABA for being in bed with Big Tech. Listen, there are legitimate concerns about the revolving door <\/a>between government and private sector \u2014 just ask Ed Martin<\/a> \u2014 yet this perennial issue doesn\u2019t feel like the motivating factor behind the FTC\u2019s petty move. Even the specific evidence Ferguson uses to extend his case is from 2022, when the ABA Antitrust Section opposed the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, sponsored by<\/a>\u2026 Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. Sigh. There appears to be more than a little bit of tension between Ferguson\u2019s first and second argument. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration has proven in the less-than-a-month it\u2019s been back in charge they\u2019re willing to go scorched earth. The ABA smacked at the administration, so now the FTC won\u2019t pay their employees\u2019 $195 membership fee. I\u2019m sure this isn\u2019t the last tit-for-tat we\u2019ll see out of the Trump II reign.<\/p>\n

aba-letter_ferguson<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another sign that the Trump II administration is taking a sharper turn to the right than his previous time in office happened on Friday when the Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson announced the agency was over the American Bar Association. Specifically, the new policy \u201cprohibits FTC political appointees from holding leadership roles in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-Fucw32.jpeg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}