By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
In two bookend decisions that sent mixed signals about presidential control of the executive branch, the Supreme Court upheld Donald Trump’s right to fire members of congressionally established “independent” executive agencies but drew the line at Trump’s efforts to get rid of Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook.
A classic 6-3 conservative-liberal Court lineup produced Trump v. Slaughter, which (as widely expected) killed off the last vestige of an old precedent (known as Humphrey’s Executor) allowing Congress to insulate certain executive-branch agencies from presidential hiring and firing. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts flatly banned congressional efforts to protect executive agency personnel as incompatible with the fundamental constitutional doctrine of separation of powers:
