The Supreme Court, acting through its emergency docket Monday afternoon, cleared the way for President Trump to fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter — at least for now. The broader question of whether he can remove her without cause is still before the courts.
Lower courts had previously blocked her removal, citing protections under a 1914 law and the precedent Humphrey’s Executor (1935), which limits when agency commissioners can be removed. The Supreme Court’s 6–3 ideological split stays those lower court rulings for the time being.
The Court has agreed to hear arguments in December on whether the removal protections for independent agencies (such as the FTC) violate constitutional separation of powers — i.e., whether the Humphrey’s Executor precedent should be overturned or modified.
Per Fox News:
Trump’s decision to fire Slaughter and another Democrat-appointed commissioner, Alvaro Bedoya, faced legal challenges because it stood in tension with the FTC Act, which says commissioners should only be fired from their seven-year tenures for cause, such as malfeasance.
Trump fired Slaughter and Bedoya shortly after he took office without citing a cause other than the president’s broad constitutional authority over the executive branch. Bedoya resigned, but Slaughter vowed to fight her firing in court and see the case through to its conclusion.
A lower court initially sided with Slaughter and reinstated her, but she has since been fired and re-hired several times as her case made its way to the Supreme Court. The decision on Monday came after the Trump administration asked the high court on an emergency basis to temporarily pause the lower court’s decision to reinstate Slaughter ahead of deciding on the merits of the case.
The Supreme Court’s decision to keep Slaughter’s firing intact means she will remain sidelined from the FTC until after the high court hears arguments about the case in December.
The decision is a notable expansion of presidential power over “independent” federal agencies. If the Supreme Court ultimately ends or weakens the requirement that FTC commissioners (and others) can only be removed “for cause,” it could shift how much control the president has over regulatory and administrative bodies.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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