The U.S. Supreme Court has handed Donald Trump a temporary victory, allowing him to fire Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter while the justices prepare to take up the case in December—a battle that could reshape the balance of power between presidents and supposedly independent federal agencies.
The dispute began when Trump moved to remove Slaughter, a Democrat whose term runs until 2029. A lower court had shielded her, ruling that commissioners can only be dismissed “for cause” under federal law. But the Supreme Court stepped in on Monday, halting that protection and opening the door for her ouster.
At stake is not just Slaughter’s job, but whether the high court will unravel a nearly century-old precedent—Humphrey’s Executor v. United States—which limits a president’s ability to sack agency leaders for policy disagreements. That 1935 ruling, born during Franklin Roosevelt’s clash with the FTC, has long served as the bedrock for protecting the independence of agencies like the FTC, NLRB, and Federal Reserve.
The court’s 6–3 conservative majority sided with Trump, while the three liberal justices warned the ruling hands unchecked control to the White House. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the dissent, blasted the majority’s approach: “Yet the majority, stay order by stay order, has handed full control of all those agencies to the President… extinguishing the agencies’ bipartisanship and independence.”
Trump’s administration argued that the FTC of today bears little resemblance to the agency of 1935, wielding broader enforcement powers that justify presidential removal at will. Slaughter’s lawyers countered, saying the agency’s role has evolved but not fundamentally transformed: “The FTC has not ‘outgrown’ Humphrey’s Executor.”
This is not the first time the justices have tilted toward Trump’s position. Earlier this year, they let him fire members of the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and even Democratic commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission—all of whom enjoyed statutory job protections. Now, the FTC becomes the next battlefield.
Since the March removals, the FTC has operated without Democratic commissioners, leaning into a conservative agenda. Its recent moves include a workshop on the risks of gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a warning to Google about filtering Republican fundraising emails, and an investigation into watchdog groups accused by Elon Musk of fueling advertiser boycotts of his platform, X.
Meanwhile, the administration is pushing further, asking the Supreme Court to clear the way for Trump to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook—something no president has attempted in the Fed’s 112-year history. That fight, if it lands before the justices, could imperil the very independence of the central bank.
December’s arguments will determine whether presidents can sweep away decades of congressional protections for regulators, or whether the guardrails set in 1935 still hold firm against executive power.
