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Fed Cook and FTC Slaughter
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to let Donald Trump fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, issuing a 5-4 ruling that blocked Trump from removing Cook for now while preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence.
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In the same day’s separate action, the court also voted 6-3 to allow President Donald Trump to remove Democratic Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter for policy reasons, overturning a 90-year-old decision tied to Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Trump had “failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute,” and the court said its ruling was not deciding the validity of the factual dispute while the case could return to lower courts.
Reuters reported the court’s Cook decision came as it “boosted the president’s power over government in a separate landmark ruling on Monday,” and ABC News described the Slaughter ruling as a rollback of “90 years of legal precedent” that had prevented at-will removal of independent agency officials.
Trump reacted to the Cook decision in a social media post, writing, “we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!”
Roberts’ rationale and Sotomayor’s dissent
In the Slaughter case, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that “for cause” removal protections imposed by Congress at more than two dozen independent, bipartisan government agencies violate the separation of powers.
ABC News quoted Roberts declaring, “What text, history, and structure settle, our precedent confirms -- the President may remove his subordinates at will,” while CBS News said the decision expanded the president’s power over independent boards and commissions.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, and ABC News reported she accused the majority of endorsing a theory of “total executive control” unimagined by the nation’s founders.
Sotomayor warned in dissent that “The result is a President who emerges with far greater power than ever before,” and CBS News said Sotomayor read a summary of her dissent from the bench.
CNN described Roberts’ long-running effort, including his 1983 memo asserting “the time is ripe to reconsider the constitutional anomaly of independent agencies,” and it said the chief justice led the majority to reverse Humphrey’s Executor v. United States on Monday.
What changes next
The Supreme Court’s Monday rulings set up a new legal landscape for independent agencies, with SCOTUSblog saying the decision gave Trump sweeping new authority over approximately two dozen multi-member agencies that Congress intended to be independent.
“Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that removal protections for members of the Federal Trade Commission are unconstitutional and overturned a 90-year-old decision that allowed Congress to shield members of certain independent agencies from being fired by the president at will”
SCOTUSblog reported that the court struck down a federal law barring the president from firing Federal Trade Commission members except in cases of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” and it said the ruling overruled the 91-year-old decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.
NPR said the independence of the Federal Reserve remains intact “for now,” because the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Lisa Cook “can remain in her job until litigation is resolved in the lower courts,” while the Slaughter decision marked a major expansion of presidential control over agencies once seen as checks on his powers.
NPR also described how the FTC’s creation in 1914 had Congress requiring commissioners to be removed only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office,” and it said the ruling effectively ends Congress’ requirement that the FTC be bipartisan so that no one party has too much sway.
SCOTUSblog added that the Federal Trade Commission has five commissioners, no more than three of whom may come from any one political party, and it said each commissioner is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve a seven-year term.
