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August 7, 2026 / 10:20 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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Washington — The Supreme Court just over a month ago expanded presidential power when it struck down removal protections for members of the Federal Trade Commission, clearing the way for the president to fire members of certain independent boards and commissions at-will.But as the high court considered the legality of Congress' efforts to shield those officials from political pressure, legal fights arising from President Trump's attempts to fire an array of other federal workers — from Justice Department lawyers to immigration judges to FBI agents — have been moving through the federal courts.The cases could pose the next test of presidential power and have significant implications for civil service protections that have been in place since the late 1970s and the federal workers covered by them, legal scholars say."The question of whether we can have a civil service staffed by individuals who are selected and retained based on their expertise, qualifications and employment performance, rather than the political ideology of the president is the entire foundation of our modern system of administrative governance," Nicholas Bednar, a University of Minnesota law professor who has studied the civil service, told CBS News.Since the start of his second term, Mr. Trump has undertaken sweeping efforts to reshape the federal government. As part of his plans, which include downsizing the executive branch, more than 25,000 government workers who were still in their probationary periods were terminated and agencies implemented plans for mass layoffs, called reductions in force.But for hundreds of other civil servants — those considered "inferior officers," as well as employees — the president has invoked Article II of the Constitution to fire them outside of procedures dictated by civil service laws, arguing it is an exercise of his executive power. "Inferior" executive branch officials may be appointed by the president or the head of a department, and they're generally supervised by principal officers, who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.Mr. Trump's firings of those federal officials are now on a track headed for the Supreme Court, as a federal appeals court is poised to hear arguments this fall in a case brought by two former immigration judges, Megan Jackler and Brandon Jaroch, who were terminated in February 2025. While cases before appeals courts are typically heard first by three-judge panels, the Federal Circuit in June granted Jackler and Jaroch's request for its full slate of judges to consider their case from the outset — an indication that it recognizes the importance of the dispute.
