The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Donald Trump possesses the authority to terminate leaders of independent agencies, reversing a 90-year-old legal precedent designed to restrict executive power over federal commissions.
The landmark decision in Trump v.
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Slaughter drew sharp dissents from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan following a legal battle over the removal of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member.
The executive action occurred in March 2025 when the White House dismissed FTC member Rebecca Slaughter via email.
Trump stated that her continued role would be "inconsistent with [the] administration’s priorities."
Slaughter subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging termination without cause, which prompted a lower court to rule in favor of her reinstatement.
In its challenge, the White House successfully argued for overturning Humphrey’s Executor v.
United States, a 1935 ruling that limited presidential power by declaring the firing of an FTC member unlawful.
The FTC operates with five bipartisan commissioners, with a maximum of three from the same party, under congressional restrictions intended to shield consumer protection and anti-trust enforcement from political interference.
A lower appeals court previously denied a White House request to freeze the reinstatement order during the appeal process.
"The government is not likely to succeed on appeal because any ruling in its favor from this court would have to defy binding, on-point, and repeatedly preserved supreme court precedent," two appeals judges wrote in the majority opinion.
