WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Supreme Court appears ready to reshape the federal administrative state by granting President Donald Trump sweeping, unrestricted power to fire the heads of independent agencies without cause. Following Monday’s oral arguments in the case concerning the removal of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member Rebecca Slaughter, the conservative majority indicated strong support for overturning the 1935 precedent that has long shielded these commissions from direct White House political control.
The central issue is the constitutionality of a law that allows a president to remove FTC commissioners only for specific reasons, such as “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Solicitor General D. John Sauer, arguing on behalf of the administration, called on the court to scrap the landmark ruling in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, describing the decision as a “decaying husk” that enables a “headless fourth branch” of government unaccountable to the president. Conservative justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, appeared receptive to this view, citing the FTC’s expansive modern powers as a reason the original precedent may no longer apply.
Liberal justices voiced deep concern over the implications of such a ruling. Justice Elena Kagan cautioned that the result would be “massive, uncontrolled, unchecked power in the hands of the president.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned that such authority would allow a president to “fire all the scientists and the doctors and the economists and the PhDs and replace them with loyalists and people who don’t know anything,” thereby undermining the non-partisan expertise these agencies are designed to provide.
A ruling in favor of the Trump administration would empower the president to dismiss, at will, members of over two dozen agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The court has already allowed the firings of members from several of these bodies to proceed while the legal challenge plays out, a strong indicator of the majority’s inclination. Legal experts anticipate a final decision by the summer, which would represent a historic shift in the balance of power within the executive branch, significantly expanding presidential authority over the regulatory landscape.
Sources and Links
- Associated Press (AP): “The Supreme Court seems likely to back Trump’s power to fire independent agency board members”
- SCOTUSblog: “Court seems likely to side with Trump on president’s power to fire FTC commissioner”
- WUNC/Associated Press: “Supreme Court appears poised to vastly expand presidential powers”
- The Guardian: “US supreme court conservatives appear poised to back Trump in FTC firing case”
- The Washington Post: “Trump fired this regulator. She’s fighting him to the Supreme Court.”
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