Overview
- Trump v. Slaughter arises from President Trump’s dismissal without cause of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, challenging statutory protections for independent commission members.
- The Justice Department urged the Court to discard Humphrey’s Executor, a 1935 precedent that undergirds for-cause removal protections at roughly two dozen multimember agencies.
- Chief Justice John Roberts referred to Humphrey’s Executor as “a dried husk” during oral argument, a remark widely read as openness to curtailing the precedent.
- The New Republic’s account highlighted confusion and differences among conservative justices, noting Justice Amy Coney Barrett floated a result without a clear constitutional rationale that drew no evident support.
- The session, as described in the analysis, leaned on policy critiques of independent agencies rather than constitutional text or founding-era design, raising warnings of proliferating lawsuits and regulatory gridlock if the Court broadens presidential removal power.