The Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission were appointed by former president Joe Biden
The US supreme court let Donald Trump on Wednesday remove three Democratic members of the government’s top consumer product safety watchdog, boosting his power over federal agencies set up by Congress to be independent from presidential control.
Granting a justice department request, the justices lifted Maryland-based US district judge Matthew Maddox’s order that had blocked Trump from dismissing three Consumer Product Safety Commission members appointed by Democratic former president Joe Biden while a legal challenge to their removal proceeds.
Maddox had ruled that Trump overstepped his authority in firing commissioners Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission was created by Congress in 1972 and tasked with reducing the risk to consumers of injury or death from defective or harmful products. The agency sets safety standards, conducts product-safety investigations and issues recalls of hazardous products.
