Overview
- During Monday’s arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to overrule Humphrey’s Executor, calling independent-agency insulation an indefensible outlier that fosters a “headless fourth branch.”
- Conservative justices pressed skepticism of the 1935 precedent, with Chief Justice John Roberts labeling it a “dried husk,” while the three liberals warned that undoing it would hand presidents massive, unchecked power.
- Lower courts had ordered FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter reinstated after her March firing, but the Supreme Court stayed those rulings and has let several contested removals at other boards proceed during review.
- Beyond the constitutional question, the court is weighing whether judges may reinstate unlawfully removed officials or must limit relief to back pay, a remedy issue that could blunt practical constraints on presidential removals.
- The case is linked to Trump’s attempt to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, with arguments set for January 21, as several justices probed whether the Fed’s unique structure warrants different treatment.