Overview

• Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative stay on Sept. 8 that keeps Rebecca Slaughter’s removal in effect while the Supreme Court considers the administration’s emergency application.
• Roberts ordered Slaughter’s legal team to file a response by Sept. 15, with further action by the full court possible after that deadline.
• A federal district judge in July and a divided D.C. Circuit panel on Sept. 2 had ordered Slaughter reinstated under the FTC Act and the Supreme Court’s 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent.
• The Justice Department argues the FTC’s for-cause removal limits are unconstitutional, and the case could prompt the justices to revisit or narrow Humphrey’s Executor without the stay deciding the merits.
• Trump notified both Democratic commissioners, Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, of their removal in March; Bedoya later resigned and dropped his suit as related disputes over other agencies have drawn similar emergency orders.