This Article examines the background and history of the FTC’s late twentieth-century activism leading up to the current Administration. It discusses the bases and limitations of the agency’s rulemaking authority, both under the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 (FTC Act) and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (TCFAPA). This Article also looks at the debt-relief-services industry and the nature of the agency's recent amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) designed to govern debt-relief services companies. Finally, the Article examines the application of the TSR rulemaking provisions to the debt-relief-services industry and discusses why the telemarketing statute does not support the FTC's recent amendments.

Michael Mallow and Michael Thurman are partners in the Litigation Department in the Los Angeles office of Loeb & Loeb LLP. They regularly counsel and defend individuals and companies in investigations and actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission and state regulators.

This article was first printed in the spring 2010 edition Vol. 14, No. 2, of the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Permission for article reprint has been granted.