March 18, 2025

2 entries on this date.

Trump fired FTC Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya without cause, asserting Article II removal power the statute does not grant

On March 18, 2025, President Trump fired the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission — Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Álvaro Bedoya — by email, citing no statutory cause. Trump's removal letters stated only that their continued service was "inconsistent with my Administration's policies," invoking Article II authority; the FTC Act permits removal only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. Both commissioners publicly declared the firings illegal, and the terminations left the FTC as a 3-0 Republican commission for the first time in the agency's history.

Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed HB 188 mandating correctional-facility housing and restroom segregation by sex assigned at birth

On March 18, 2025, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed House Bill 188, the "Dignity and Safety for Incarcerated Women Act," after it passed the House 103-4 on February 10, 2025 and the Senate 48-0 on March 7, 2025. The law defines "sex" in state corrections law as biological sex observed or verified at birth and requires restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters in Mississippi correctional facilities to be segregated on that basis rather than gender identity. It also creates a private civil cause of action letting an incarcerated person sue a facility for declaratory and injunctive relief if they encounter someone of the opposite biological sex in those spaces.