Overview
- Arguments focus on President Trump’s March removal of FTC commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter without the statutory “for cause” justification that Congress set for the commission.
- Lower courts ruled the firing unlawful and ordered Slaughter reinstated, but the Supreme Court let her ouster stand during the appeal and took up the case directly.
- The Justice Department urges the Court to overturn the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent and embraces a unitary‑executive view, with Solicitor General D. John Sauer calling independent agencies a “myth.”
- The justices are also weighing whether courts may reinstate unlawfully removed officials, a remedial issue that could limit judicial relief even if a firing is illegal.
- A decision could affect dozens of multimember regulators such as the NLRB and MSPB, and a related case on Trump’s attempted removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is scheduled for January.