President Biden Taps Ferguson, Holyoak for FTC

President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak to be commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission. Ferguson is the Solicitor General of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He oversees the appellate litigation of Virginia and its agencies; represents Virginia before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Virginia and the federal courts of appeals; and defends Virginia’s statutes and regulations from constitutional challenge. Before accepting the appointment as Solicitor General, Ferguson served as Chief Counsel to U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell from 2019 until 2021. In that role, he was Leader McConnell’s chief legal advisor and judicial confirmation strategist. Before serving as Leader McConnell’s Chief Counsel, Ferguson served as Chief Counsel for Nominations and the Constitution to then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and as Senior Special Counsel to then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Ferguson also practiced antitrust law at several large D.C. law firms, where he represented clients in private antitrust litigation and before the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice. Holyoak currently serves as the Utah Solicitor General with the Utah Attorney General’s Office, where she manages the civil appeals, criminal appeals, constitutional defense and special litigation, and antitrust and data privacy divisions. In that capacity, she oversees merger reviews, data privacy and antitrust enforcement actions, and provides leadership in consumer protection matters. Holyoak is an experienced litigator, with much of her twenty years of practice focused on consumer protection. Prior to joining the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Holyoak served as President and General Counsel of Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest firm representing consumers challenging unfair class actions and regulatory overreach. She served in previous positions as a public interest attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Center for Class Action Fairness.