Supreme Court to hear case that could vastly expand presidential powers

"The Supreme Court hears Monday arguments in a case that could end the independence of independent agencies, overturn a 90-year-old precedent, and reshape the balance of power between Congress and the president. At issue is whether President Trump can fire Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, whom Trump appointed in 2018, during his first term, to fill a Democratic seat on the Federal Trade Commission."

"Instead, in March, Slaughter received an email from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel informing her that she was being removed from office, effective immediately. She was told her "continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with [the Trump] Administration's priorities." Slaughter had been given no such reason for her removal, and so she sued. A lower court declared that Slaughter had been unlawfully removed from the FTC and ordered her back to work."

"The Trump administration appealed that ruling, and in September, the Supreme Court issued an emergency order removing her from her seat until the merits of her case could be heard. Justices voted 6 to 3 along ideological lines to allow her firing to stand -- for now. Reconsidering a 90-year-old precedent Proving that history does repeat itself, in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to fire an FTC commissioner over ideological disagreements."

The Supreme Court will decide whether the president can remove an FTC commissioner, potentially overturning nearly a century of precedent limiting presidential removal power. Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, appointed in 2018 and reappointed to a term through 2029, received a March White House notice removing her immediately as "inconsistent with [the Trump] Administration's priorities." The FTC is a bipartisan, five-member independent agency created in 1914 whose commissioners can only be removed for inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance. A lower court ordered Slaughter reinstated; the administration appealed, and the Supreme Court temporarily allowed her removal by a 6–3 vote while the case proceeds.

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