The U.S. Supreme Court has significantly expanded presidential power, overturning a nearly 100-year-old precedent that limited a president's ability to remove heads of independent regulatory agencies. In a decision affecting bodies like the Federal Trade Commission, the court ruled that presidents have broad authority to dismiss officials who exercise presidential powers.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority of the court's six conservative justices, stated, "Subordinates who exercise the president's power are subject to removal by him." The ruling effectively allows presidents to replace regulators with whom they disagree, a move that could lead to more frequent policy shifts with each new administration. The three liberal justices dissented from the decision.
This ruling overturns a 1935 unanimous decision that prevented President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from removing commissioners from regulatory agencies designed to be insulated from presidential authority. The court's decision on Monday grants future presidents, including former President Donald Trump who challenged the precedent, greater control over numerous key agencies responsible for interpreting election laws, setting communications policy, resolving labor disputes, and establishing financial and environmental regulations.
Trump hailed the decision on social media, calling it a "great win" that "greatly increas[es] presidential power at a time when it is most needed!" The expansion of presidential power is expected to amplify the trend of significant policy changes that often occur when a new political party assumes the presidency.