David C. Vladeck to Head the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection

By Kurt R. Karst –      

On April 14, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that Chairman Jon Leibowitz has appointed six senior new staff members, including former Public Citizen Director David C. Vladeck.  According to the FTC announcement:

David C. Vladeck, who will serve as Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, has been a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching federal courts, government processes, civil procedure, and First Amendment litigation.  He co-directed the Center’s Institute for Public Representation, a clinical law program for civil rights, civil liberties, First Amendment, open government, and regulatory litigation.  Vladeck previously spent almost 30 years with Public Citizen Litigation Group, including 10 years as Director.  He has argued a number of First Amendment and civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and more than 60 cases before the federal courts of appeal and state courts of last resort.

Mr. Vladeck (in an essay co-authored with former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler) was critical of the preamble to FDA’s January 2006 prescription drug labeling rule, in which the Agency articulated a pro-preemption policy.  Mr. Vladeck is the second Public Citizen Director to be associated with the federal government.  As we previously reported, in late 2008, Dr. Sidney Wolfe was named a permanent member of FDA’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee.