Andrew Ferguson
Status: đ´ Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (Trump appointee, 2025âpresent)
Overview
Andrew Ferguson is the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission under the second Trump administration, appointed in December 2024 and elevated to chair in 2025. He has used the FTCâs consumer protection and antitrust authority to pursue a culture war agenda, with a particular focus on targeting transgender healthcare.
Ferguson is the architect of the FTCâs Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics â demands that a federal judge later found were rooted in âextensive evidence of animusâ and âwafer-thin justifications.â
Anti-Transgender Agenda
Pre-Appointment Memo
Before his elevation to chair, Ferguson circulated a leaked one-page memo to President Trump pledging to âfight back against the trans agendaâ and investigate âthe doctors, therapists, hospitals, and othersâ providing gender-affirming care. The memo was described by the court in WPATH v. FTC as direct evidence of governmental animus towards transgender people.
The TechDirt analysis of the memo described it as âa laundry list of a bunch of things that Trump gets excited about, much of which is well beyond the FTCâs actual authority,â noting that Fergusonâs predecessorâs efforts were denounced as âpolitically motivatedâ while Fergusonâs own plans were âextremely politically motivated.â
FTC Workshop on Gender-Affirming Care (July 2025)
Under Fergusonâs leadership, the FTC hosted a workshop titled âThe Dangers of âGender-Affirming Careâ for Minors.â At the workshop, speakers called gender dysphoria âscience fictionâ and âthe foundational fraud,â described gender-affirming care providers as engaged in âchild abuse,â and framed their work as a âbattle of good versus evil.â
One workshop participant explicitly recommended investigating medical associations to make them âstart losing membersâ and âlose revenue streams.â This individual was subsequently hired by the FTC â a fact cited by Judge Boasberg as further evidence of animus.
Civil Investigative Demands (January 2026)
In January 2026, the FTC issued Civil Investigative Demands to three leading medical organizations:
- WPATH â demanding decades of internal communications back to 1979, clinical guidelines, educational materials, and names of every member who developed claims about gender-affirming care
- Endocrine Society â similarly sweeping demands for internal communications, guidelines, and member information
- American Academy of Pediatrics â same scope of demands
The CIDs were part of a coordinated campaign that also included DOJ subpoenas to hospitals, CMS proposed rules, and the Kennedy Declaration.
Court Ruling: WPATH and Endocrine Society v. FTC (May 2026)
On May 13, 2026, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the D.D.C. granted preliminary injunctions against the FTC, finding that the agency acted with âextensive evidence of animusâ and âwafer-thin justifications.â The court cited:
- Fergusonâs pre-appointment memo pledging to âfight back against the trans agendaâ
- Trumpâs executive orders labeling gender identity âsubversiveâ and gender-affirming care âmutilationâ
- Senior FTC staff publicly accusing medical associations of âmalpracticeâ
- The July 2025 workshop where anti-trans rhetoric was promoted
- The hiring of a workshop participant who advocated for targeting medical associations
The judge concluded the FTC âlikely violated the organizationsâ First Amendment rightsâ and engaged in âunlawful retaliation.â
Background
Prior to becoming FTC Chair, Ferguson served as an FTC Commissioner. Before his government service, he worked as counsel to Senator Mitch McConnell and in private practice. Ferguson also clerked for a federal judge.
Significance
Ferguson represents a model of the Trump administrationâs weaponization of regulatory agencies for culture war purposes. His tenure at the FTC demonstrates:
- Agency capture: Using consumer protection authority for political retaliation
- First Amendment violations: Targeting medical organizations for their protected speech on transgender healthcare
- Coordination: Working in concert with DOJ, HHS, and CMS on a multi-agency campaign against transgender healthcare
- Judicial rebuke: Every court to review the FTCâs anti-trans actions has found them unlawful
- Bad-faith hiring: Employing activists who advocated for targeting the very organizations under investigation
Related Pages
- DOJ Healthcare Records Subpoenas â Full overview of the subpoenas campaign
- Enforcement & Affirmative Litigation Branch (EALB) â The DOJ unit driving enforcement
Sources
- Federal Judge Rules Trump Government Has Animus â Erin in the Morning
- TechDirt: Incoming FTC Chairâs Leaked Memo
- WPATH v. FTC â Preliminary Injunction Ruling
- Endocrine Society v. FTC â Preliminary Injunction Ruling
- FTC Workshop Transcript â July 2025
- Trump Executive Orders on Gender Identity