Supreme Court Cuts Federal Trade Commission Powers to Recover Ill-Gotten Gains

The Supreme Court on Thursday clipped the Federal Trade Commission’s longtime practice of seeking to recover ill-gotten gains in court from companies and individuals who cheat consumers, saying Congress hadn’t actually given the agency that power.

The court, in an opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, ruled unanimously that a 1973 law, which gives the FTC the right to seek court injunctions against fraudulent or deceptive commercial activity, doesn’t explicitly give the commission the right to seek financial judgments as well.