District Court Enjoins FTC Non-compete Rule
On July 3, 2024, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas entered a preliminary injunction staying the effective date of the Federal Trade Commission’s Non-compete Rule banning most non-compete agreements as “unfair methods of competition.” The Court found that Congress never granted the FTC statutory authority to create substantive rules regarding unfair methods of competition. Instead, the Court found that the text, structure, and legislative history of the FTC Act shows that Congress only granted the FTC the authority to promulgate “rules of agency organization procedure or practice” (i.e., rules of procedure concerning its investigative and adjudicatory authority).