This week, a divided Ninth Circuit panel holds (with some
apparent reluctance) that constitutional challenges to the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cannot be brought directly in
federal court, but must instead wend their way through the
FTC's review process.
The Court holds that district courts lack jurisdiction over
claims challenging the constitutionality of the FTC's structure
and its adjudicative procedures.
The panel: Judges Siler (CA6), Lee, and
Bumatay, with Judge Lee writing for the majority and Judge Bumatay
dissenting in part.
Key highlight: "Axon
claims—and FTC does not appear to dispute—that FTC has
not lost a single case in the past quarter-century. Even the
1972 Miami Dolphins would envy that type of record. Indeed, a
former FTC commissioner acknowledged that the FTC adjudication
process might unfairly favor the FTC given the agency's
stunning win rate. Axon essentially argues that the FTC
administrative proceeding
