The Supreme Court just handed the president a much bigger stick. And while the Federal Reserve dodged the immediate blow, the threat hasn’t gone away.
On June 29, the Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Slaughter that President Trump could remove FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter without cause, overturning nearly a century of precedent. In a companion case, Trump v. Cook, the justices upheld for-cause removal protections for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Two cases, two agencies, two very different outcomes.
One precedent dies, another lives on borrowed time
The Slaughter ruling killed off Humphrey’s Executor, the 1935 decision that established the principle that presidents can’t fire leaders of independent agencies on a whim. For 91 years, that case stood as the firewall between political pressure and regulatory independence. Now it’s gone.
In English: the president can now remove commissioners at agencies like the FTC whenever he wants, for any reason or no reason at all.
