AHA urges appeals court to examine due process claims in FTC merger case

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals should reverse the Federal Trade Commission’s decision in Illumina Inc. v. FTC, “a paradigmatic example” of how the agency’s practices violate the Constitution’s due process clause, AHA said in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case. 

“With one-sided procedures that favor the agency and a win-loss tally that proves it, the only possible conclusion is that the FTC is not a fair, neutral, and unbiased tribunal, as required by the Due Process Clause,” the brief notes. “In both appearance and reality, this case does not display fairness and neutrality consistent with the Constitution. Unique among federal agencies, it is sadly par for the course with the FTC. … Whether it is an acquisition that prevents a rural hospital from closing or, as here, the future of cutting-edge, life-saving medical technology, the FTC’s unfair practices have stood in the way of improved healthcare again and again. It is long past time to put an end to the FTC’s unconstitutional enforcement practices.”