Supreme Court Rules That the Chief Executive Does In Fact Have the Power to Fire His Own Executive Branch Employees

Supreme Court Rules That the Chief Executive Does In Fact Have the Power to Fire His Own Executive Branch Employees

Supreme Court overrules a 90-year-old precedent and frees the president to fire independent agency heads

The Supreme Court ruled today that President Trump can remove Federal Trade Commission members at will, and in doing so it overruled Humphrey's Executor, the 1935 decision that has protected independent agencies for nine decades. The case is Trump v. Slaughter, and it reshapes the federal bureaucracy.

The fight began when Trump fired the FTC's two Democratic commissioners, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, early in his second term. He did not claim cause. He simply said their service no longer fit his administration's priorities. Federal law says FTC commissioners can be removed only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. Slaughter sued to get her job back and won below.

The Court reversed. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, said the Constitution vests executive power in one president who must be able to remove the officers who wield that power on his behalf. Because the FTC clearly exercises executive power, he wrote, its commissioners answer to the president. Humphrey's Executor, he said, has long been a result in search of a rationale, and the Court let it go.

The vote was 6 to 3. Roberts was joined by Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Sotomayor dissented, joined by Kagan and Jackson.

Do you really think this kind of stuff would happen with MOR wankers like JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio, or Ted Fucking Cruz?

NOTHING WOULD HAPPEN WITH THEM.

NOTHING!