Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday temporarily allowed President Donald Trump to remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, halting lower-court orders that had reinstated the commissioner and signaling the Supreme Court will consider the scope of presidential removal power over independent agencies.
The order came in response to an emergency appeal by the Justice Department after Rebecca Slaughter sued following her dismissal in the spring. Lower courts had ordered her reinstated on the grounds that federal law permits commissioners to be removed only for cause, such as misconduct or neglect of duty. Roberts granted the administration’s request to pause those decisions while the high court reviews the arguments and asked Slaughter’s lawyers to respond by next week.
The Justice Department told the court that the FTC and similar executive-branch agencies fall under presidential control and that the president may remove commissioners without stating cause. Slaughter’s lawsuit will continue to move through the courts, with the Supreme Court’s temporary order preserving the status quo while it considers whether longstanding protections for independent agency officials remain intact.
The decision follows a recent pattern in which the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has allowed presidents to remove certain members of independent agencies, and it raises broader questions about the future of a 90-year-old precedent. In Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), the court unanimously held that presidents could not remove independent agency board members except for cause, a ruling that helped establish a framework for agencies charged with regulating areas such as consumer protection, labor and communications.
Lower-court judges have previously relied on that precedent in the FTC case, and Slaughter — who enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws as one of the agency’s commissioners — has moved in and out of the position as the litigation progressed. The FTC traditionally is composed of a majority aligned with the president’s party and a minority from the opposing party, a structure designed to preserve some degree of political balance in enforcement decisions.
The high court has suggested there may be limits to presidential removal powers in other contexts, including at the Federal Reserve, a question likely to surface in pending litigation involving Fed Governor Lisa Cook. Monday’s order does not decide the merits of the dispute but allows the Trump administration to keep Slaughter off the commission while the Supreme Court weighs the broader constitutional arguments.
The case underscores an ongoing shift in the court’s approach to the administrative state and sets the stage for a potentially consequential ruling on executive authority over independent regulatory bodies. Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.