The Supreme Court overturned nine decades of precedent curbing executive power when it ruled Monday that President Donald Trump can fire Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission, paving the way for other presidents to terminate employees of independent agencies and commissions.
However, the court carved out an exemption — at least for now — for the Federal Reserve, blocking Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook, a Fed governor.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote both opinions.
Trump was pleased.
“BIG WIN just moments ago at the Supreme Court, in the Slaughter Case, confirming Presidential Power in our Country to remove Executive Branch Officers and Agency Appointees, or Representatives, under Article II,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is such an Honor to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers.”
Re-asserting authority
By allowing Trump to fire Slaughter and other independent regulators, the court greatly expanded presidential authority over a variety of regulatory agencies, overruling the court’s ruling in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States in 1935.
The court split 6-3 along ideological lines.
“Today, this Court undoes centuries of political practice and concludes that all three branches of Government have been acting in open defiance of the Constitution all this time,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissent. “Its conclusion is wrong.”
Since returning to the Oval Office for his second term, Trump has exerted what he claims is his executive authority over multiple institutions and actions. He has signed executive orders directing more aggressive immigration enforcement, ordering federal agencies to reduce diversity, equity and inclusion programs and providing blanket clemency to rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some believe this is within the president’s authority.
“President Trump has taken steps in many instances to re-assert his authority under Article II of the Constitution,” Zack Smith of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, told Straight Arrow. “For more than half a century, the courts and Congress have placed restrictions on who the president can hire and fire to fill certain positions within the executive branch of government. President Trump has correctly pushed back against many of those restrictions. This will benefit all future presidents, regardless of political party.”
‘No sugar-coating’
But critics say that weakening the independence of regulatory agencies gives far too much power to the executive branch, eroding the checks and balances of democracy.
“The idea that putting the FTC under the direct control of Donald Trump is going to make people’s lives easier is laughable, and it is only going to make things worse,” Alvero Bedoya, the Biden-era FTC commissioner who Trump also fired, told reporters. “The only people who are going to be helped by this are this president’s billionaire donors who are actively being sued by the Federal Trade Commission.”
The Slaughter decision Monday weakens the independence of regulatory agencies that have not traditionally reported directly to the president.
“There’s no sugar-coating Slaughter,” Georgetown Law professor Stephen Vladeck wrote on X. “It’s an enormously important ruling. … It’s a huge win for Trump/the executive. And it’s going to have massive ramifications for the functioning of the government long after Trump is gone.”
For Fed governor, a reprieve
In 2025, Trump attempted to fire Cook, a Biden appointee, saying she committed mortgage fraud by claiming two homes as her primary residence to obtain lower interest rates. Cook denied the allegation.
Cook sued to keep her position, arguing that if a president can fire a Fed governor without cause, it could undermine the institution’s independence. She would have been the first governor removed by a president in the Fed’s history.
The court ruled that Cook can stay in office — for now, at least until her lawsuit is resolved.
Round out your reading
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