Overview

• In a 6–3 emergency order on September 22, the Court kept Rebecca Kelly Slaughter out of her FTC seat after lower courts ruled her firing unlawful and ordered reinstatement.
• The unsigned order converted the emergency application into a merits case and scheduled full argument for December 2025.
• The Court directed briefing on whether the FTC’s for‑cause removal protections violate separation of powers and whether Humphrey’s Executor should be overruled, and it asked whether courts may bar an officer’s removal.
• Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, warning the majority has effectively handed presidents power to remove independent‑agency members for any reason.
• The case arises from President Trump’s March 2025 removals of Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya without cause, and similar emergency stays this year have allowed removals at the NLRB, MSPB, and CPSC to stand pending review.