Senate Commerce Committee approves two Obama nominees for FTC

The Senate Commerce Committee approved President Barack Obama's picks to fill out the Federal Trade Commission, Julie Brill and Edith Ramirez, sending their nominations to the Senate floor.

Brill, North Carolina's top consumer watchdog, and Ramirez, who knew Obama in law school, were chosen to fill two slots on the five-member FTC, which divides its work between antitrust and consumer protection. Brill became the senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice in February 2009. She previously worked in Vermont in the attorney general's office and is considered a privacy expert.

Ramirez, a virtual unknown in the Washington antitrust world, has represented corporations like Mattel Inc and Northrop Grumman Corp. She would be moving to the FTC from a Los Angeles law firm. An expert in copyright and trademark infringement, antitrust and unfair competition claims, Ramirez graduated from Harvard Law School in 1992. She worked for the Harvard law review in 1990 at the same time Obama was the first black president of the review. She later worked on Obama's campaign as Latino outreach director in California.

If confirmed, they will replace Republican Deborah Majoras, who stepped down in March 2008, and independent Pamela Jones Harbour, whose term ended in September.