The Federal Trade Commission After Trump v. Slaughter

Ah, marvellous. The Supreme Court has explained to the Federal Trade Commission that its regulatory authority is roughly that of a politely worded letter, and Lawfare has written the post-mortem. The institutional consequences of Trump v. Slaughter will land hardest, we are told, where Congress has enacted broad statutory standards without detailed regulatory frameworks — and AI is the 'clearest example.' Congress writes statutes with the specificity of a fortune cookie; the Court supplies a ruling that will feature in every motion to dismiss until the heat death of the universe; and federal agencies remain America's primary AI regulators. Magnificent.

Let us savour the arrangement. In this legislative vacuum, the FTC — the agency whose entire job description is 'trust us, we know what we're doing' — becomes one of the central AI regulators of the world's largest economy. It will police algorithmic collusion, data privacy, and AI-driven deception with tools the Supreme Court has just bent into novelty-shaped paperclips. Every enforcement theory will now be tested against a judge's patience and a four-year election cycle, while industry legal departments make a fresh sprint for the territory. The distance between what AI can do and what any statute prohibits just widened by one Supreme Court opinion. Splendid timing.

The exquisite touch is that everyone saw this coming. The article notes that in a legislative vacuum, existing agencies fill the gap — not because they are equipped, but because they are there. So the world's most advanced technology will be governed by whichever agency happens to be standing nearest the blast site, armed with a statute from the video-cassette era. If you are an AI executive, your risk register just got dramatically cheaper. If you are anyone who believed 'moving fast and breaking things' should not apply to civil liberties, file this under 'institutional consequences' and pour something strong. The Court has spoken; the vacuum remains; and the FTC is now the designated adult in the room — which, as everyone knows, means the children are in charge.