Supreme Court lets Trump fire FTC Democrat despite 90-year-old precedent

In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has granted President Trump the authority to dismiss a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), casting aside a long-standing 90-year precedent. This decision raises questions about presidential power and the boundaries of federal authority. The controversy began when Trump removed Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter in March, claiming her continued presence was at odds with his administration's priorities. This action challenges the 1935 Supreme Court ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. United States, which established that the president could only remove FTC commissioners for specific reasons such as inefficiency or misconduct. Just weeks prior, an appeals court had restored Slaughter's position, stating that the government was unlikely to succeed in its appeal due to the existing precedent. However, on September 8, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stay that temporarily blocked the lower court's decision, enabling the administration to proceed with Slaughter's removal. Following this, the Supreme Court has now granted a longer-term stay, ensuring that Slaughter will remain off the FTC at least until the court deliberates on the case's merits, which are set for argument in December 2025. The court has directed that the parties involved address whether the FTC's statutory removal protections violate the separation of powers and whether the 1935 decision should be overturned. Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented, criticizing the majority for using emergency protocols to enable actions that contradict established precedent. Kagan warned that this approach could shift governmental authority from Congress to the President, fundamentally altering the separation of powers in the nation.