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Supreme Court Expands Power to Fire Independent Agencies
Trump v. Slaughter (June 2026): 6-3 ruling overturns 91-year-old precedent limiting removal of FTC commissioners.
Sources: SCOTUSblog · Law.com · CNN · June 2026
What did the Supreme Court decide?
The Court held 6-3 that presidents may fire members of the Federal Trade Commission at will, striking down statutory “for cause” removal limits. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the Constitution’s vesting of “executive Power” in one president requires broad control over executive branch officials. The decision formally overruled Humphrey’s Executor (1935), which had upheld independent multi-member commissions for nearly a century.
The immediate case involved FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, whom Trump sought to remove. The Court had earlier allowed the firing to take effect while litigation proceeded. Dissenters (Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson) warned the ruling gives the president power “unknown even to the English Crown” and weakens congressional checks.
Which agencies are affected?
Reporting estimates roughly two dozen multi-member independent agencies could fall under the new removal standard, including bodies overseeing consumer protection, labor rights, nuclear regulation, and securities markets. The “unitary executive” theory, long promoted in conservative legal circles, gained its strongest Supreme Court endorsement yet.
The same term, Roberts joined a separate majority blocking Trump from immediately removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, preserving unique Fed independence in that case. CNN noted the Court both expanded and, in specific contexts, limited presidential reach over regulators.
Why does this matter for abuse of power?
Independent agencies were designed post-New Deal to enforce laws without daily presidential retaliation against investigators or commissioners. At-will firing risk makes oversight of fraud, antitrust, and consumer harm more subject to White House loyalty tests.
Related trackers: Patel/Bongino at FBI · Courts timeline · First-term DOJ pressure
TLDR
June 2026: SCOTUS lets Trump-style presidents fire FTC leaders freely, dismantling a core post-Watergate-era constraint. Abuse-of-power concern: enforcement agencies become easier to weaponize for allies and against critics.