When Agencies Hold the Keys: FTC Investigations and the Right to Go to Court

In this episode of Unwritten Law, Mark Chenoweth and John Vecchione are joined by Peggy Little, Senior Litigation Counsel at NCLA, to discuss NCLA’s amicus brief in Media Matters v. Federal Trade Commission, currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The conversation focuses on the FTC’s use of civil investigative demands (CIDs) and a fundamental constitutional question: must individuals and organizations have access to an independent court before complying with sweeping agency demands? Peggy explains why allowing agencies to issue broad investigative orders without meaningful judicial review threatens First Amendment rights of speech and association.

Drawing on Supreme Court precedents including NAACP v. Alabama, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, Axon Enterprise v. FTC, and SEC v. Jarkesy, the episode examines why constitutional challenges cannot be forced through agency-controlled processes. The hosts also discuss the dangers of agencies “holding the keys to the courthouse,” the structural bias built into self-review, and how repeated investigative demands can be used to pressure or dismantle organizations without ever filing charges.