The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that President Trump had the authority to fire two Democratic FTC commissioners, overturning decades of legal precedent in the process. The decision in Slaughter v. Trump effectively kills the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor ruling, which had held that independent agency commissioners could only be fired for cause.
Chief Justice Roberts delivered the majority opinion, stating that “subordinates who exercise the President’s power are subject to removal by him. Then, and only then, can they remain accountable to the President, and the President to the people.” The framework of Humphrey’s Executor “has not withstood the test of time,” according to the syllabus.
The ruling rests on the unitary executive theory — the idea that the president holds all power over the executive branch. “Although it is up to the Senate to decide whether to confirm those with whom the President would prefer to work, neither Congress nor the courts may saddle him with those with whom he cannot work,” Roberts wrote.
In practice, the immediate impact is limited. The two fired commissioners — Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya — have already been replaced. Republican Chair Andrew Ferguson has rebranded the agency as the “Trump-Vance Commission” and told staff to stop calling it independent in legal filings.
But the broader implications are significant. The ruling affects not just the FTC but also the FCC, FEC, National Labor Relations Board, and National Transportation Safety Board. All are now more firmly under presidential control.
Justice Sotomayor’s dissent was blunt: “The result is a President who emerges with far greater power than ever before. It is a power, however, that neither the People, nor Congress, nor the Constitution bestowed upon him.”
In a separate 5-4 ruling, the Court held that Trump can’t fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook for now, suggesting the Fed may have stronger statutory protections than the FTC.
