The U.S. Supreme Court last week sided with President Donald Trump on a key immigration policy. This much-criticized decision further empowers him to remove Democratic FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, despite there being ongoing legal challenges to her DRM-esque dismissal. The Court hasn’t yet granted this request but just last month, the Trump administration asked them to. Now they’re angling to unseat her – Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is the target of their latest attacks.
In March, Trump removed Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, another Democratic FTC member. A federal judge later ruled in July that Slaughter’s termination was indeed “unlawful” based on long-standing legal precedent. The Supreme Court issued a temporary order permitting Trump to proceed with Slaughter’s dismissal, effectively overriding the lower court’s ruling.
The Supreme Court’s recent 6-3 decision in Axon v. FTC has many shaking in their boots over what it will mean for independence of regulatory agencies. Then, on behalf of the dissenting liberal justices, Justice Elena Kagan forcefully advocated for the status quo. In her dissent, she lamented that the ruling undermines the protections Congress established for independent agencies.
“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
The ruling revisits a nearly century-old legal precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor, established during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. This ruling effectively shielded independent agency commissioners from being arbitrarily fired by the president.
Kagan further articulated her concerns, stating, “Congress, as everyone agrees, prohibited each of those presidential removals. Yet the majority, stay order by stay order, has handed full control of all those agencies to the President.”
Shortly after, in August of last year, the Trump administration retaliated by firing Lisa Cook after false accusations of mortgage fraud. This past summer Slaughter herself came under fire for termination. And the high-profile legal fights around these dismissals have drawn much media attention. Beyond their immediate impacts, they could both establish critical precedents for how future administrations interact with independent regulatory agencies.
Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision provides a fresh perspective on the relationship between presidential authority and independent agencies. This very unfortunate turn of events may have permanent implications for governmental oversight and agency independence. Here’s hoping the Court is looking at more actions like those taken by the Trump administration. Observers are understandably anxious to see how these openings will affect the federal oversight and accountability.