"Supreme Court unanimous that FTC lacked authority to recover billions for consumers The Supreme Court unanimously held Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority by going to court to force individuals and companies engaged in deceptive business practices to turn over billions of dollars in profits... 'The Supreme Court ruled in favor of scam artists and dishonest corporations, leaving average Americans to pay for illegal behavior,' acting FTC chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said in a statement. 'With this ruling, the court has deprived the FTC of the strongest tool we had to help consumers when they need it most.'..." https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4d131c-a390-11eb-a774-7b47ceb36ee8_story.html
Simply put, the FTC overstepped its legal authority: Baring a specific federal law which would allow U.S. attorneys authority to initiate such recovery law suits, it would be up to individual state attorneys to do so.
"Facebook Says Supreme Court Ruling Requires Tossing FTC [monopoly] Suit Facebook Inc. said a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week on the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to recover money for consumers means the agency’s monopoly lawsuit against the company must be dismissed... Although the FTC’s case focuses on competition and does not seek monetary relief for consumers, the complaint relies on the same authority at issue in the Supreme Court decision, section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The FTC also can sue companies in its in-house administrative court but chose to file the Facebook case in federal court where a group of states also sued the company..." https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/facebook-says-supreme-court-ruling-requires-tossing-ftc-suit-1.1596516
