"There's only one reason to continue to follow the activities of the current Supreme Court. And it's to watch the carefully constructed conservative majority wind itself into knots to explain how their authoritarian-enabling rulings don't apply to Democratic presidents or the possibly imminent Democratic Congress. Otherwise, the bunch has all the integrity of a piss-poor bowling team from Memphis, as the late Dr. Thompson once wrote of an earlier conservative Court."
"On Monday, the Court heard arguments in the case of Trump v. Slaughter. The proximate cause of action was whether or not the president had the right to fire Rebecca Slaughter, the commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. More broadly, the arguments touched on whether or not the concept of independent agencies created by Congress are a violation of separation of powers, and therefore, the president should be able to fire anyone he damned well pleases."
"What stands in the way, for the moment, is a 90-year old decision called Humphrey's Executor v. United States. At SCOTUSBlog, Amy Howe explained the stakes. A decision in favor of the Trump administration would significantly increase the president's power over not only the FTC but roughly two dozen other multi-member agencies that Congress intended to be independent. President Donald Trump has also fired members of the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission."
The Supreme Court heard Trump v. Slaughter, centering on whether the president can remove FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. The case raises whether Congress-created independent multi-member agencies violate separation of powers if the president can freely fire their officials. Humphrey's Executor, a 90-year-old precedent protecting agency independence, currently limits presidential removal power. Overturning that precedent would expand presidential control over roughly two dozen independent agencies. The Trump administration already removed members from multiple agencies, and the Court has let some firings take effect pending a definitive ruling on their legality.
Read at www.esquire.com
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