SCOTUS rules that Trump's 2025 firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter without cause was lawful, placing independence of several agencies in doubt

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday further overturned a 91-year-old precedent that has prevented presidents from removing members of independent agencies at will.

NPR 2026-06-30

Context & Ripple Effects

The dispute began when Trump fired the FTC’s two Democratic commissioners in 2025, a move that immediately raised a legal challenge over the agency’s independence. A federal judge later reinstated Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, leaving the issue unresolved until the Supreme Court ruling.

The Court has now validated the removal and overturned the longstanding precedent limiting presidential power over independent-agency officials. That turns a fight over one FTC seat into a test of the governing model for several federal agencies.

First-order effects

The FTC loses the tenure protection that had insulated commissioners such as Slaughter from removal without cause, giving the president substantially more control over the commission’s membership.
The lower-court reinstatement of Slaughter is displaced by the Supreme Court’s ruling, resolving this specific removal dispute in favor of the administration.

Second-order effects

FTC enforcement priorities and the durability of commission decisions may become more closely tied to the sitting president, since commissioners can no longer rely on the former removal constraint.
Other agencies covered by comparable independence arrangements face renewed uncertainty over whether their members can be removed at will, inviting further challenges and leadership reshuffling.

Third-order effects

If applied broadly, the decision shifts the institutional balance from bipartisan, fixed-term agency governance toward more direct presidential control over federal regulation.
For regulated industries, policy continuity across administrations could become less certain as agency leadership becomes easier to replace; the scope of that change will depend on how subsequent cases extend this ruling to other agencies.

The trend: This ruling is a major data point in the broader judicial and political push to weaken the separation between independent regulators and presidential authority.

Discussion

@senatorbennet Michael Bennet on x
Today, SCOTUS has given the green light to President Trump to fire nearly any Senate-confirmed official he wants without cause. This sets a dangerous precedent for agencies Congress established to be independent. By allowing Trump to remove Rebecca Slaughter from the FTC, the C…
@klasfeldreports Adam Klasfeld on x
Sotomayor: In abolishing independent agencies, SCOTUS hands the U.S. president more powers than a king, whom Parliament could constrain from removing high-level royal officers.
@chrisvanhollen Senator Chris Van Hollen on x
Today, SCOTUS green-lit another expansion of Trump's power, letting him fire an FTC commissioner who dares disagree with him. This decision threatens to let Trump stack agencies with cronies who'll serve his billionaire buddies at the expense of the people. We must fight back.
@sethmoulton Seth Moulton on x
SCOTUS may have protected the Fed today, but by rubber-stamping the firing of Rebecca Slaughter, they're continuing to let Trump assault the rest of our independent government. Stripping protections from the FTC and NLRB gives Trump a green light to hollow out labor and consumer…
@jbsdc Justin Slaughter on x
Fact check: true. The Gorsuch concurrence suggests that technocratic policymaking free of politics is impossible, which is probably true (we all have some bias). But throwing the doors open to everything being political is 1) not what the founders intended and 2) a mistake.
@stevesi Steven Sinofsky on x
FDR fired Humphrey because Humphrey was a republican who disagreed with The New Deal and would not shut down radio stations and newspapers that were against the New Deal legislation. FDR who also tried to pack the court and used levers of censorship in many ways. [image]
@mitchellvii Bill Mitchell on x
🎯 BREAKING: SCOTUS JUST WRECKED THE DEEP STATE TODAY! For 91 years, unelected bureaucrats have been running this country from the shadows, protected by a 1935 legal shield that kept presidents from touching them. Today, the Supreme Court ripped that shield apart. 6-3. Trump [vide…
@benrossen Ben Rossen on x
Trump v. Slaughter will have major implications for the future of AI regulation. If you want a federal body that can independently assess frontier models and then impose binding consequences - free from political or partisan influence — that just got a lot harder, if not impossi…
@douglaslfarrar Douglas Farrar on x
Today, the Supreme Court let Trump fire the FTC's consumer cops, but not the Fed governors. Six unelected justices who serve for life are protecting Wall Street and leaving everyone else exposed. I hope Democrats will prioritize court reform for 2029.
@hissgoescobra John Jackson on x
The two decisions on Presidential removal authority are irreconcilable. In the FTC case, the majority held that statutory protections against removal except for cause are unenforceable, while in the Fed case, held they are enforceable. They made up an exception out of thin air.
@edwardtwinz @edwardtwinz on x
:rotating_light: Nobody is telling you what SCOTUS actually handed Trump today..the headlines say “Trump wins right to fire FTC commissioner”..that's the smallest version of this story..here's what actually happened...the FTC is just the first domino.. NLRB.. SEC.. EEOC.. every c…
@scott_wiener Senator Scott Wiener on x
This ruling is horrific. It dramatically expands the radical “unitary executive” theory, also known as the “let's turn the Presidency into an autocracy” theory.
@julie_kelly2 Julie Kelly on x
In another appropriate decision, SCOTUS once again determines the president is indeed in charge of the executive branch—not those running an imaginary fourth branch of government made up of unaccountable agencies/commissions and holdover presidential appointees: [image]
@superwuster Tim Wu on x
The strangest thing about the Cook / Slaughter case pair is how much work constitutional waiver is doing. To non-lawyers (and some lawyers too), it is weird to say “we just decided that independent agencies are unconstitutional, however we will not apply that ruling to the Fed
@jon_hartley_ Jon Hartley on x
Important Fed-SCOTUS news: In Slaughter, Court overturns Humphrey's Executor; now holds officers exercising executive power are removable by the President. Principle applies to agencies like FTC. BUT Court declines to decide whether this applies to the Federal Reserve. Thread🧵 [i…
@senmikelee Mike Lee on x
A good decision. The President is the Chief Executive. If Executive Branch employees do not answer to him, they do not answer to the American people. Humphrey's Executor was wrongly decided in 1935. Today, SCOTUS restores an important constitutional separation of powers.
@sayssimonson Joe Gabriel Simonson on x
Big win. A Biden administration official who barely did any work even when she was legally employed was rejected by voters and the President. Instead of doing the right thing she said “No, I think I'll stick around and collect a paycheck.” Dishonorable and unlawful behavior.
@chriswithans Chris on x
Chief Justice John Roberts has his moment today despite letting Barrett take the less-landmarkish ballots case and despite deferring on the Federal Reserve commissioner. Hopefully Chief Justice Roberts considers a retirement to become Former Chief Justice Roberts.
@scotus_wire @scotus_wire on x
Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court. Justice Sotomayor dissents. Read the ruling here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ...
@scotus_wire @scotus_wire on x
🚨 In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the President may fire FTC commissioners at will, overruling Humphrey's Executor and holding that the FTC's for-cause removal protections violate the Constitution's separation of powers. [image]
@bykatiebuehler Katie Buehler on x
BREAKING: A 6-3 Supreme Court rules presidents CAN fire members of independent agencies without cause, greenlighting President Donald Trump's efforts to reshape the federal government. #SCOTUS liberals dissent. https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ... [image]
@leahlitman Leah Litman on bluesky
OMFG. I cannot begin to describe my gasp at how Roberts & co decided to go all in on LOST CAUSE theory & insist that the Reconstruction Congress did Confederate sympathizer President Andrew Johnson wrong by attempting to keep him from destroying Reconstruction — www.supremecou…
@john60612 @john60612 on bluesky
Another reason that this is the worst SCOTUS ever.
@blumenthal.senate.gov Richard Blumenthal on bluesky
The Supreme Court has now handed Donald Trump unchecked dominion over independent commissions like the FTC—allowing the President to stack consumer protection agencies with hand-picked cronies who will cater to his billionaire friends. 3/
@rweingarten Randi Weingarten on bluesky
This is bad. The independence of these agencies are essential to their success. Expanding presidential power over them is a shortsighted move by a court that bows too often to Donald Trump. — www.npr.org/2026/06/29/n...
@girlwiththemostcake.com Shannon on bluesky
Just wait, when a Democrat does it, it'll suddenly be unlawful again for ~reasons~ [embedded post]
@ncallaway Noah on bluesky
“In doubt” in the same way that JFK's health is currently “in doubt”
r/Political_Revolution r on reddit
BREAKING: The Supreme Court Just Overturned A 91-Year-Old Precedent In A 6-3 Ruling That Gives President Trump The Power To Fire The Leaders Of The FTC …
r/NewsExchange r on reddit
U.S. Supreme Court Gives Pres Trump Power Over Independent Agencies in Landmark FTC Ruling
r/InterstellarKinetics r on reddit
BREAKING: The Supreme Court Just Overturned A 91-Year-Old Precedent In A 6-3 Ruling That Gives President Trump The Power To Fire The Leaders Of The FTC …
r/NPR r on reddit
Supreme Court cements President Trump's power over agencies long considered independent
r/politics r on reddit
Supreme Court cements Trump's power over agencies long considered independent
r/europe r on reddit
US Supreme Court just blew up EU-US Data Transfers

Chronicles