Supreme Court to revisit laws curtailing Trump's power to fire top officials

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that President Donald Trump can dismiss a top official at the Federal Trade Commission, allowing him to remove Democratic Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter from her post while related litigation continues. In a 6-3 decision, the justices also said they will revisit a nearly century-old precedent that shields independent agencies created by Congress from presidential interference.

The decision comes as the court weighs a challenge to Humphrey’s Executor, a 1935 ruling that allowed independent agencies to be insulated from presidential interference. Slaughter and fellow Democratic commissioner Alvaro Bedoya were fired by Trump in March; Bedoya later resigned, but Slaughter has pressed ahead with her legal challenge. A federal judge in July ruled that Slaughter’s dismissal was unlawful under the Humphrey’s Executor framework, complicating the White House's position. Earlier this month, the court issued a temporary order permitting the removals to proceed while justices considered whether to take up the case; the new decision confirms that approach.

In the majority ruling, the justices signaled they would hear arguments in December on whether to overturn Humphrey’s Executor and permit broader presidential removal power over independent agencies. The decision does not by itself overturn the 1935 precedent, but it sets the stage for a major reexamination of how far presidential control extends in a system designed for bipartisanship and insulated governance.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent warning that the ruling invites presidents to take control of agencies Congress designed to protect the public from partisan influence. "Congress, as everyone agrees, prohibited each of those presidential removals," Kagan wrote. "Yet the majority, stay order by stay order, has handed full control of all those agencies to the President. He may now remove - so says the majority, though Congress said differently - any member he wishes, for any reason or no reason at all. And he may thereby extinguish the agencies' bipartisanship and independence." This underscores concerns among liberal justices that the decision risks politicizing regulatory bodies.

The underlying institution behind the dispute, the Federal Trade Commission, enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws and is typically made up of five commissioners — three from the president’s party and two from the opposition. Slaughter and Bedoya, both Democrats, were the two commissioners removed in March, triggering a legal fight that has now reached the Supreme Court. Bedoya resigned after his dismissal, while Slaughter continues her legal challenge, arguing the removals violated the protected independence of the agency.

Separately, the court is considering the Trump administration’s request to remove Lisa Cook as a member of the Federal Reserve Board. Cook was fired in August after the administration accused her of mortgage fraud; Cook has denied any wrongdoing, and a federal court previously ruled that the president did not have the power to remove her. The inclusion of Cook in the court’s docket highlights the broader question of presidential power to remove political appointees at independent agencies or boards, and the court’s handling of the matter will determine how far the executive branch can go in reshaping such bodies in a partisan manner.