US Senate committee to consider Biden’s Republican nominees to FTC

(Reuters) – A U.S. Senate committee will meet next week to consider President Joe Biden’s nomination of Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson and Utah Solicitor General Melissa Holyoak to fill Republican slots at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

If confirmed by the Senate, the two Republicans will not change the balance of power at the FTC, which enforces antitrust law and rules against deceptive advertising. It currently has a Democratic chair, Lina Khan, and two Democratic commissioners.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said she would convene a full nominations hearing on Sept. 20.

Ferguson was chief counsel to U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell from 2019 until 2021. He has also worked for Senators Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley.

Holyoak is the Utah Solicitor General with the Utah Attorney General’s Office. She has previously worked as an associate at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP, and at Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, which focuses on fighting class action lawsuits and aggressive regulation, as well as at the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness.