UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580 

Dissenting Statement of Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips and Christine S. Wilson 

Regarding the Issuance of Eight Omnibus Resolutions 

September 14, 2021 

Today, the Commission publicly announced that it has issued eight more blanket resolutions 

authorizing compulsory process, on top of the seven it approved at the public meeting on July 1, 

2021. What’s left? 

We voted against these resolutions for the same reason we opposed the prior omnibus 

resolutions: removing Commission oversight of investigations does virtually nothing to make 

those investigations more effective but does mean less input and oversight from the Commission. 

These resolutions create less accountability and more room for mistakes, overreach, cost 

overruns, and even politically-motivated decision making.1 

Congress gave the Commission, not a single commissioner or staff, the authority to bless 

compulsory process in its investigations,2

 but the 15 sweeping resolutions have undone that 

legislative delegation of authority for essentially all antitrust investigations, and many others.3 

Now, in all of these matters, the application of the FTC’s considerable investigative power no 

1

 Dissenting Remarks of Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips Regarding the Commission’s Issuance of Seven 

Omnibus Resolutions (July 1, 2021), shttps://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1591634/ 

p210100phillipsstatementomnibusresolutions.pdf; Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Christine S. Wilson on 

the Open Commission Meeting of July 1, 2021, 9-11 (July 1, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/ 

public_statements/1591554/p210100wilsoncommnmeetingdissent.pdf. 

2

 15 U.S.C. § 57b-1(i) (“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission shall have no authority to 

issue a subpoena or make a demand for information, under authority of this subchapter or any other provision of 

law, unless such subpoena or demand for information is signed by a Commissioner acting pursuant to a Commission 

resolution.”) (emphasis added). 

3

 The 15 omnibus resolutions authorize compulsory process in investigations of possible illegality stemming from 

(1) any merger subject to federal premerger notification requirements, including those under the HSR Act, (2) any 

suspected monopolization, attempt to monopolize, or conspiracy to monopolize, (3) any consummated merger or 

acquisition by an entity with a current enterprise value over $5 billion, (4) any simultaneous service as an officer or 

director of, or a contemporaneous financial stake in, two or more competing entities, (5) any suspected abuse of 

intellectual property; (6) prohibited conduct targeting workers or small-business operators; (7) prohibited conduct by 

any person or entity subject to an FTC administrative order; or prohibited conduct related to (8) any healthcare 

market, (9) any market with participants that provide technology platform services, (10) any algorithm or 

biometrics, (11) any marketing of goods and services on the Internet, manipulation of user interfaces, or use of 

email, metatags, computer code, or programs, (12) any good or service marketed, in whole or in part, to children 

under 18 years of age, (13) any good or service marketed, in whole or in part, to members or veterans of the U.S. 

Armed Forces and States’ National Guards, (14) any diagnosis, treatment, or government benefits for COVID-19, or 

(15) any repair restriction. 
 

 

longer requires an informed and deliberated decision by all commissioners; unilateral approval 

from the Chair or his or her chosen commissioner is sufficient.4 

In the past few months, the Commission has discarded a number of longstanding, bipartisan (and 

sound) policies and practices, justifying some of these actions with the claim that the agency is 

overwhelmed by merger filings.5 In fact, several of these changes made merger review less 

efficient. In any event, an increase in agency workload is precisely the wrong context in which to 

remove the ability of all commissioners to ensure that our work is done in an efficient, effective, 

and fair manner. 

4

 Chair Khan and Commissioner Slaughter call omnibus resolutions “a mainstay” at the FTC, and note that 56 such 

resolutions were in place when Chair Khan joined the agency. They omit two important facts. First, the scope of 

those prior delegations generally was much narrower than the 15 at issue here. Second, virtually all of the prior 

delegations applied only to consumer protection investigations, which are generally much less complex, 

burdensome, and costly than antitrust investigations. 

5

 Dissenting Statement of Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips and Christine S. Wilson on the “Statement of the 

Commission on the Withdrawal of the Statement of Enforcement Principles Regarding ‘Unfair Methods of 

Competition’ Under Section 5 of the FTC Act” (July 9, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/ 

public_statements/1591710/p210100phillipswilsondissentsec5enforcementprinciples.pdf; Press Release, Fed. Trade 

Comm’n, FTC Rescinds 2015 Policy that Limited Its Enforcement Ability Under the FTC Act (July 1, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/07/ftc-rescinds-2015-policy-limited-its-enforcement-abilityunder; Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips Regarding the Commission’s Withdrawal of the 

1995 Policy Statement Concerning Prior Approval and Prior Notice Provisions in Merger Cases (July 21, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1592398/dissenting_statement_of_commissioner_ph 

illips_regarding_the_commissions_withdrawal_of_the_1995.pdf; Oral Remarks of Commissioner Christine S. 

Wilson at the Open Commission Meeting on July 21, 2021, 8-11, https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/ 

public_statements/1592366/commissioner_christine_s_wilson_oral_remarks_at_open_comm_mtg_final.pdf; Press 

Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Rescinds 1995 Policy Statement that Limited the Agency’s Ability to Deter 

Problematic Mergers (July 21, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/07/ftc-rescinds-1995-

policy-statement-limited-agencys-ability-deter; Statement of Commissioner Christine S. Wilson Regarding the 

Announcement of Pre-Consummation Warning Letters (Aug. 9, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/ 

public_statements/1593969/pre-consummation_warning_letters_statement_v11.pdf; Holly Vedova, Adjusting 

merger review to deal with the surge in merger filings, Fed. Trade Comm’n: Competition Matters (Aug. 3, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/competition-matters/2021/08/adjusting-merger-review-deal-surge-mergerfilings. 

2