Supreme Court Backs Trump’s Firing of FTC Official
The U.S. Supreme Court has backed Donald Trump's decision to fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter without cause, overturning a lower court's order that had temporarily reinstated her. In a 6–3 ruling, the conservative majority sided with Trump, while the liberal justices, led by Elena Kagan, dissented. “The president cannot, as he concededly did here, fire an FTC Commissioner without any reason,” Kagan wrote, warning that the Court’s approach is “reshap[ing] the Nation’s separation of powers.”
The decision clears the way for a much bigger legal battle: the Court will hear arguments in December about whether to overturn Humphrey’s Executor, a 1935 ruling that protects members of independent agencies from being fired at will by the president. Trump’s lawyers argued the old rule gives too much power to unelected officials, while Slaughter’s team warned that Congress “expressly and repeatedly refused” to give presidents the power Trump now claims.
The case is being closely watched because it could impact leadership rules across dozens of independent federal agencies. The Court has declined to fast-track similar cases involving Trump-fired officials at other agencies, signaling it plans to use the FTC case as a test for whether presidents can freely remove members of institutions meant to operate without political interference.
