The Supreme Court on Monday will hear a case that could significantly expand presidential authority and upend a 90-year-old framework that shields members of independent federal agencies from being removed without cause.
At issue is whether President Donald Trump can fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter at will. Slaughter, a Democrat, was first appointed to the FTC during Trump’s first term and later reappointed by President Joe Biden. Trump has sought to remove her without citing any misconduct, arguing that the Constitution grants presidents broad power to oversee the executive branch.
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The dispute directly challenges a 1935 Supreme Court precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor, which held that presidents may remove FTC commissioners only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.” That ruling has long been the legal foundation protecting the leadership of roughly two dozen independent regulatory agencies — from the Federal Communications Commission to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — from political turnover.
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The court’s conservative majority has already signaled interest in revisiting long-standing limits on presidential removal authority in recent opinions. Depending on how broadly the justices rule, the decision could reshape how much independence federal agencies maintain and redefine the scope of presidential control for decades.
