The Supreme Court on Monday, in a 6-3 decision, upheld former President Donald Trump’s removal of Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, at least temporarily, while agreeing to expedite a review of the dispute over presidential power.
The unsigned order offered no explanation, but it follows other rulings by the court’s conservative majority giving presidents broad authority to staff independent agencies that wield significant executive power.
Trump dismissed Slaughter, a Biden appointee, without citing misconduct, saying the decision was based solely on policy differences.
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, pointing to federal law that limits removal of FTC commissioners to cases of cause and a landmark precedent, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which upheld those protections.
“The president cannot, as he concededly did here, fire an FTC commissioner without any reason,” Kagan wrote. “To reach a different result requires reversing the rule stated in Humphrey’s: It entails overriding rather than accepting Congress’ judgment about agency design.”
Kagan accused the majority of effectively overruling Humphrey’s through the emergency docket without hearings or full briefing.
“The majority may be raring to take that action,” she wrote. “But until the deed is done, Humphrey’s controls, and prevents the majority from giving the president the unlimited removal power Congress denied him.”
The justices said they will revisit Humphrey’s directly in December, when they hear arguments on whether protections for FTC commissioners violate separation of powers.
In a separate order, the court declined to fast-track appeals from Cathy Harris, a former member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, and Gwynne Wilcox, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board, both removed by Trump and also contesting his actions under Humphrey’s.
The decisions suggest the court intends to use the Slaughter case as the primary vehicle to decide the scope of presidential removal authority across more than 50 independent agencies and corporations.
