FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson Stepping Down- WSJ

Federal Trade Commissioner Christine Wilson, the sole remaining Republican at the FTC’s governing board, said she plans to resign from the position, citing her reason for this decision as Democratic Chair Lina Khan’s “disregard for the rule of law and due process.”

“Much ink has been spilled about Lina Khan’s attempts to remake federal antitrust law as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission,” Wilson wrote in WSJ op-ed piece on Tuesday. 

Read More: Lina Khan And The FTC Go Back To The Antitrust Future

She continued “Less has been said about her disregard for the rule of law and due process and the way senior FTC officials enable her. I have failed repeatedly to persuade Ms. Khan and her enablers to do the right thing, and I refuse to give their endeavor any further hint of legitimacy by remaining. Accordingly, I will soon resign as an FTC commissioner.”

Wilson addressed Khan’s refusal to recuse herself in the FTC’s lawsuit to attempt to block Meta’s purchase of VR company Within, which the FTC lost earlier this month when a federal judge determined that Meta Platforms should be allowed to acquire Within Unlimited, dealing a blow to the FTC’s efforts.

Wilson’s move comes one day after President Joe Biden’s nomination of former FTC chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democrat, to take up the empty seat that remained at the Agency.

Read the full opinion here.

Christine Smith Wilson is an American attorney who serves on the Federal Trade Commission. Wilson was appointed to this position in 2018 by President Donald Trump and was confirmed by the Senate in April 2018. She replaced Maureen Ohlhausen.