On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Slaughter that President Trump had the constitutional authority to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter without cause, and overruled Humphrey's Executor v. United States, the unanimous 1935 precedent that for 90 years had protected the members of independent agencies from being removed at will.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said, “Subordinates who exercise the President's power are subject to removal by him.” The logic extends to other multimember independent agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, bringing them under direct presidential control. The Court expressly carved out an exception for the Federal Reserve.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor read her dissent from the bench, a rare signal of deep disagreement, saying the decision gives “the President a power unknown even to the English Crown” and converts the President's constitutional duties into “a license to act in defiance of those very laws.” Stripping the independence of agencies Congress deliberately insulated from politics is a structural expansion of presidential power that cannot easily be undone (see The Supreme Court Blocks Trump's Firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook, Letting Her Stay While It Shields the Federal Reserve).