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Nonilex Sep 22, 2025

Holy freaking hell

#SCOTUS will weigh expanding #Trump #power to shape agencies by overturning 90-year-old ruling

SCOTUS Monday it will consider expanding Trump’s power to shape #independent #FederalAgencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members.

#law #ActivistCourt #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
https://apnews.com/article/trump-fire-ftc-commissioner-supreme-court-2149d7c3802b3ddea6e157d3a0afd292?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2025-09-22-Breaking+News

Supreme Court will consider expanding Trump’s firing power

The Supreme Court will consider expanding President Donald Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members. The high court agreed Monday to quickly hear arguments in a case over the firing of members of the Federal Trade Commission and two other boards. The justices have allowed the Republican president to fire Democratic Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter and board members at other agencies while their lawsuits play out. The high court's actions send a strong signal the conservative majority could be poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 decision that found commissioners can be removed only for misconduct or neglect of duty.

AP News

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Nonilex Sep 22, 2025

The justices have allowed #Trump to carry out some high-profile firings while lawsuits play out, signaling the conservative majority is poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 #SCOTUS decision that found commissioners can only be removed for misconduct or neglect of duty.

#law #ActivistCourt #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

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Nonilex Sep 22, 2025

#SCOTUS agreed to take up the case of #RebeccaSlaughter, a Democratic member of the #FTC who was reinstated by lower courts under a 90-yr-old ruling known as Humphrey’s Executor. In that case, the court sided with another FTC commissioner who was fired by Franklin D. Roosevelt as the president worked to implement the New Deal. The justices unanimously found commissioners can be removed only for misconduct or neglect of duty.

#Trump #law #ActivistCourt #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

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Nonilex Sep 22, 2025

The justices’ decision back then ushered in an era of powerful #independent #FederalAgencies charged with regulating #LaborRelations, employment #discrimination & #PublicAirwaves. But it has long rankled *conservative* legal theorists who argue such agencies should answer to the president.

#Trump #law #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

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Nonilex Sep 22, 2025

Trump’s #DOJ argues #Trump can fire board members for any reason as he works to carry out his agenda. “The President & the government suffer irreparable harm when courts transfer even some of that executive power to officers beyond the President’s control,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote. Courts have no power to order reinstatement, only back pay, Sauer argued.

#law #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

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Nonilex

Slaughter’s attys say that #regulatory decisions will be based more on #politics than on board members’ #expertise if #Trump can fire congressionally confirmed board members at will. “If the President is to be given new powers #Congress has expressly & repeatedly refused to give him, that decision should come from the people’s elected representatives,” they argued.

#SCOTUS will hear arguments unusually early in the process, before the case has fully worked its way through lower courts.

#law

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Nonilex Sep 22, 2025

2 other board members of #independent #FederalAgencies asked #SCOTUS to also hear their cases if they took up the Slaughter case: Gwynne Wilcox, of the National Labor Relations Board [#NLRB], & Cathy Harris, of the Merit Systems Protection Board [#MSPB].

The #FTC is a regulator enforcing #consumer protection measures & #antitrust #legislation. The #NLRB investigates unfair #labor practices & oversees #union elections, while the #MSPB reviews disputes from #FederalWorkers.

#Trump #law

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Nonilex Sep 22, 2025

#SCOTUS has already allowed #Trump to fire all 3 board members for now. The court has suggested, however, that the president’s #power to fire could have limits at the #FederalReserve, a prospect expected to be tested by the case of fired Fed Governor #LisaCook.

#law #ActivistCourt #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny