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2d ago

Trump Fires Three Democratic CPSC Commissioners, Escalating Clash Over Agency Independence

The unprecedented removals reduce the Consumer Product Safety Commission to a Republican-led board, with dismissed commissioners vowing legal action against the move.

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Elliot Kaye (L), chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and CPSC employees watch as a 28-pound (13 kilo) dummy(C) falls over and under IKEAs Malm model chest of drawers, during a live demonstration at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on June 28, 2016. Furniture giant Ikea said June 28 it would recall its hugely popular Malm model of chest of drawers in the US and Canada after six children in the US were crushed to death when the chests tipped over. In 2015, Ikea launched a campaign in the US and Canada to encourage owners of the Malm chests of drawers to anchor them to the wall.
Richard Trumka Jr. accepts the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of his father the late Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, from U.S. President Joe Biden during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House July 7, 2022 in Washington, DC.
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Overview

  • President Trump has dismissed Democratic commissioners Mary Boyle, Richard L. Trumka Jr., and Alex Hoehn-Saric from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), leaving only two Republican members on the five-person board.
  • The fired commissioners, appointed under President Biden, argue their removal violates statutory protections for fixed terms and plan to challenge the decision in court.
  • The firings follow a visit from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been critical of independent agency spending and operations.
  • Consumer Reports and Democratic lawmakers have condemned the action as an attack on the CPSC's independence and called on Congress to intervene.
  • The Supreme Court is expected to soon address broader questions of presidential authority over independent agencies, which could have significant implications for this case and others.