The Supreme Court just handed the president a new lever over virtually every independent regulator that touches crypto. In a 6-3 decision issued June 29 in Trump v. Slaughter, the Court ruled that the president can fire commissioners of independent agencies at will, overturning the 91-year-old precedent established by Humphrey’s Executor v. United States in 1935.
The immediate target was FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, whose removal by President Trump the Court validated. But the ruling applies directly to the SEC and the CFTC, the two agencies locked in a turf war over who regulates what in digital asset markets.
What the ruling actually changes
For nearly a century, commissioners at agencies like the SEC and CFTC enjoyed a legal shield. Presidents could only remove them “for cause,” meaning some form of demonstrated misconduct or neglect. That shield is now gone. The president can remove SEC and CFTC commissioners at will.
One notable carve-out exists. The Court explicitly excluded the Federal Reserve from this ruling, preserving the central bank’s independence. But securities regulation, commodity oversight, and by extension the regulatory architecture around crypto tokens and exchanges are now firmly within the president’s sphere of influence.
