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Supreme Court Likely To Side With Trump Firing The FTC Commissioner

KEY ISSUES

• Trump fires Rebecca Slaughter, head of FTC
• Slaughter opens case against Trump administration
• Base of the case to be it is unconstitutional for a sitting president to remove FTC positions
• Supreme Court ruling to uphold the removal of Slaughter till the conclusion of appeal

The beginning of a long fight for Slaughter

Monday December 8^th, Supreme Court showed signs to remove federal law removing the ability for the president to remove top officials of the FTC. In an active case Trump vs Slaughter, many justices showed signed of agreeing with the Trump administration. The Trump administration is arguing that prohibiting the president from firing FTC commissioners for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance of office” defies the separation of power between the three branches of government. Seven justices did express skepticism about another case, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, that upheld the law. Following, the discussion was less clear about who would overrule it.

 The issue doesn’t seem to just be acknowledging the issues with the FTC alone. The issue comes when we realize that the presidential power would also oversee about another two dozen multi-member agencies that were originally intended to be independent. In the cross hairs Trump has already fired associates of the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the consumer Product Safety Commission. These firings were already allowed by the Supreme Court. They are more hesitant to uphold the firing of Rebecca Slaughter because based on the legality of those firings ().

Supreme Court sides with Trump Administration

It is important to note that the FTC is made up of five commissioners who are named by the president and confirmed with the Senate for seven-year terms. Only three of which can be elected by a single political party. In fact, Trump originally nominated Slaughter during his first term as president. Biden then extended Slaughter for a second term ending in 2029. This previous March, Trump sent a communication firing Slaughter based on actions “inconsistent with the administration’s priorities”.

Slaughter filed in federal court to challenge the legality of her firing. It was ruled she was to be reinstated. The Court of Appeals also refused to pause the ruling while it was appealed. It was later pleaded in September by the Supreme Court to lower the hold while the case was appealed and the request was granted. This effectively fired Slaughter while the case was appealed.

Supreme Court weighs in on options for the ruling

The argument has been pursued about what would happen should the FTC removal provision be ruled invalid. It was urged that the court just remove the provision telling them that would be the course of action. Sotomayor suggests instead of removing the provision from law, courts should instead sever whatever wrongful power the agency was enacting allowing the courts to conclude the removal of the provision was unconstitutional. The decision to this case seems to be a long way off estimated for June or July.

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