Andrea Hsu
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
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The new case started with Trump's removal of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter in March.
She was told her service was inconsistent with the administration's priorities.
Slaughter sued, calling her firing illegal, and a lower court agreed with her, citing the 1935 case.
The Trump administration says that ruling was flawed and should be overturned.
They argue the Constitution puts the president in charge of the entire executive branch, and Congress cannot siphon that power away from him.
In 1935, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Congress could put limits on the president's power to fire heads of some independent agencies.
The agency in question was the Federal Trade Commission.
Today, the court considers whether those limits are constitutional.
The new case started with Trump's removal of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter in March.
She was told her service was inconsistent with the administration's priorities.
Slaughter sued, calling her firing illegal, and a lower court agreed with her, citing the 1935 case.
The Trump administration says that ruling was flawed and should be overturned.
They argue the Constitution puts the president in charge of the entire executive branch, and Congress cannot siphon that power away from him.
In a two-to-one decision, the court ruled that President Trump's firings of National Labor Relations Board member Gwen Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board member Kathy Harris were lawful, despite federal laws that state they can only be fired for cause.
The appeals court found that a 1935 Supreme Court decision limiting the president's power to remove officers at multi-member independent agencies like theirs would
doesn't apply here because both agencies wield substantial executive power.
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a similar case.
The Trump administration has asked the court to strike down that 1935 precedent and recognize that the president has unlimited power to remove those who assist him in carrying out his duties.