No. of Recommendations: 2
Supreme Court Allows Trump to Fire F.T.C. Commissioner
The divided Supreme Court decision was the latest in a series of emergency orders enabling President Trump to remove Democratic members of several independent agencies.
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Trump to fire a leader of the Federal Trade Commission, setting up a court battle over a 90-year-old limit on executive power over independent agencies.
In an emergency order, a divided court announced that it would allow President Trump, for now, to fire Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a F.T.C. commissioner, and that it would hear argument in the case in December, a signal that a majority of the court is ready to revisit a landmark precedent limiting presidential authority.
Mr. Trump had fired Ms. Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, two Democratic members of the F.T.C., in March. The federal agency, which enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws, typically has five commissioners — three from the president’s party and two from the opposing party.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Justice Elena Kagan said her conservative colleagues had essentially allowed the president to take charge of agencies Congress intended to protect from partisanship.
She wrote that the court’s majority, order by order, “has handed full control of all those agencies to the president.”
The justice continued: “He may now remove — so says the majority, though Congress said differently — any member he wishes, for any reason or no reason at all. And he may thereby extinguish the agencies’ bipartisanship and independence.”
Justice Kagan pointed out that in the 1935 case, the Supreme Court had “rejected a claim of presidential prerogative identical to the one made in this case.” She added that although a majority of justices may be “raring” to overturn that precedent, for now, it remains in effect.
Justice Kagan pointed out that in the 1935 case, the Supreme Court had “rejected a claim of presidential prerogative identical to the one made in this case.” She added that although a majority of justices may be “raring” to overturn that precedent, for now, it remains in effect.
In a series of cases, the Supreme Court has signaled a willingness to potentially overrule the precedent and at some point declare that laws shielding agency heads from presidential ouster are unconstitutional.
