Chief justice lets Trump remove member of Federal Trade Commission for
now
[September 09, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday let President Donald Trump
remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string
of high-profile firings allowed for now by Supreme Court.
Trump first moved to fire Rebecca Slaughter in the spring, but she sued
and lower courts ordered her reinstated because the law allows
commissioners to be removed only for problems like misconduct or neglect
of duty.
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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts arrives before President
Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in
Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) |
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Roberts halted those decisions in a brief order, responding to
an appeal from the Trump administration on the court’s emergency
docket.
The Justice Department has argued that the FTC and other
executive branch agencies are under Trump’s control and the
Republican president is free to remove commissioners without
cause.
Slaughter’s lawsuit over her firing will keep playing out, as
Roberts asked her lawyers to respond to the Trump
administration’s arguments by next week.
The court has previously allowed the firings of several other
board members of independent agencies. It has suggested,
however, that his power to fire has limitations at the Federal
Reserve, a prospect that could soon be tested with the case of
Fed Gov. Lisa Cook.
Monday’s order is the latest sign that the Supreme Court’s
conservative majority has effectively abandoned a 90-year-old
high court precedent that protected some federal agencies from
arbitrary presidential action.
In the 1935 decision known as Humphrey’s Executor, the court
unanimously held that presidents cannot fire independent board
members without cause.
The decision ushered in an era of powerful independent federal
agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment
discrimination, the airwaves and much else. But it has long
rankled conservative legal theorists who argue the modern
administrative state gets the Constitution all wrong because
such agencies should answer to the president.
The agency at the center of the case was also the FTC, a point
cited by lower-court judges in the lawsuit filed by Slaughter.
She has ping-ponged in and out of the job as the case worked its
way through the courts.
The FTC is a regulator created by Congress that enforces
consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. Its
seats are typically comprised of three members of the
president’s party and two from the opposing party.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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