Trump v. Slaughter: Independent Agencies

The case asks whether the Constitution forbids independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and whether Trump's firing of Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter without cause was unlawful. The FTC's governing statute has always permitted removal only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance — protections the Supreme Court upheld in its 1935 Humphrey's Executor decision. A decision in favor of the government could limit or overturn Humphrey's Executor and fundamentally reshape the operation of independent federal agencies — including the SEC, the NLRB, and the FCC — by making their leaders removable at presidential will.