US FTC commissioner Holyoak appointed interim US attorney in Utah

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(Reuters) -U.S. FTC commissioner Melissa Holyoak has been appointed interim U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, the Federal Trade Commission said on Monday.

Holyoak was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, and her last day as a commissioner was Monday, the FTC said in a statement. 

Holyoak, the former solicitor general of Utah, was sworn in as an FTC commissioner last year as one of two Republicans appointed by then-President Joe Biden.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who was Virginia’s solicitor general before he was appointed to the commission last year, said, “It has been a blessing to serve alongside her for almost four years as fellow Commissioners and state solicitors general.”

Ryan Baasch, an economic adviser to President Donald Trump, is expected to be nominated for the open commissioner role. Baasch previously worked in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. 

Mark Meador, a partner at law firm Kressin Meador Powers and former antitrust counsel to Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, was confirmed as a commissioner in April.

By law, no more than three commissioners on the five-member body can come from the same political party.  Trump moved to fire the two Democratic members of the commission in March. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the legality of that action in December, in a case that could overturn 90 years of legal precedent allowing some congressionally created agencies a degree of independence from the White House.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York, writing by Christian Martinez; Editing by Katharine Jackson, Rod Nickel)