FTC chair eyed Big Law exit before task force role

The FTC chair considered leaving the agency this summer for a job in Big Law, reaching out to law firms with his resume in the months before he was named to President Donald Trump's superintelligence task force, according to a new Politico report. Andrew Ferguson, who leads the Federal Trade Commission, explored the private-sector move in discussions described to Politico by a White House official and a former administration official, the outlet's West Wing Playbook newsletter reported. Ferguson, a former Virginia solicitor general who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, ultimately stayed in the post and accepted the additional task-force assignment. ## What the FTC chair reportedly explored According to Politico, Ferguson sounded out major law firms about a potential return to private practice, circulating his resume as he weighed an exit from the commission's top job. The report said the outreach to Big Law came in the months before Trump tapped him for the superintelligence task force, a role that has kept Ferguson at the center of the administration's technology policy. The report did not say which firms Ferguson contacted or how far the conversations progressed, and it is unclear whether any formal offers were extended. ## Ferguson's antitrust record at the agency Under Andrew Ferguson, the FTC has pressed ahead with its monopolization cases against Meta and Amazon, signaling that the agency's Big Tech enforcement would proceed at full speed. Ferguson came to the commission with a conservative legal pedigree. Before joining the FTC, he served as solicitor general of Virginia and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, credentials that made him a natural pick to lead the agency's shift after the Biden era. As a commissioner under former Chair Lina Khan, Ferguson frequently dissented from the agency's most aggressive regulatory moves, including a proposed nationwide ban on non-compete clauses and rules targeting subscription cancellations. Since taking the chair, he has kept the agency's biggest courtroom fights alive: the FTC's monopolization cases against Meta and Amazon are proceeding at full speed, even as the commission has signaled a less hostile posture toward mergers overall. That record is part of what makes the reported Big Law outreach notable. A sitting commission chair with Ferguson's antitrust portfolio would be a coveted hire for firms whose clients face the agency's scrutiny — the classic Washington revolving door, in which regulators move into the private practices that appear before their former agencies. Ethics rules impose cooling-off periods on such moves, but they do not bar them. The agency's monopolization suits against Meta and Amazon remain its most consequential courtroom fights. The superintelligence task-force appointment, meanwhile, appears to have settled the question, keeping Ferguson in government with a prominent technology-policy portfolio alongside his commission duties. The reported flirtation with private practice is a familiar Washington ritual: top regulators routinely field lucrative offers, and the revolving door between the FTC and major firms has long drawn scrutiny from ethics watchdogs. ## Why the FTC chair stayed The superintelligence task-force appointment appears to have settled the question, giving Ferguson a prominent role in shaping the administration's approach to artificial intelligence alongside his commission duties. Whether the episode affects his standing inside the administration remains unclear. For now, the FTC chair remains in place, with the agency's antitrust docket — and its high-profile cases against the country's largest technology companies — moving forward under his leadership.