<\/strong><\/p>\nThe case gives the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, an opportunity to overturn a New Deal era supreme court precedent in a case called Humphrey\u2019s Executor v United States that has shielded the heads of independent agencies from removal since 1935.<\/p>\n
D John Sauer, the solicitor general, repeatedly argued that independent agencies like the FTC are a \u201cheadless fourth branch\u201d with limited government oversight and that, in general, \u201cindependent agencies are not accountable to the people\u201d. He argued that the key 90-year precedent, Humphrey\u2019s Executor, \u201cmust be overruled\u201d, describing the ruling as a \u201cdecaying husk with bold, and particularly dangerous pretensions\u201d.<\/p>\n
Regarding the 1935 precedent ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts said that historic precedent has \u201cnothing to do with what the FTC looks like today\u201d. That decision, he said, \u201cwas addressing an agency that had very little, if any executive power\u201d.<\/p>\n
The liberal justices, meanwhile, appeared sympathetic to Slaughter\u2019s lawyer warning that \u201cthere are real-world risks that are palpable\u201d in allowing a president the power to fire leaders of independent agencies. Doing so meant that \u201ceverything is on the chopping block\u201d, Amit Agarwal said.<\/p>\n
Sounding the alarm, liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor said that independent agencies have existed throughout US history. \u201cYou\u2019re asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that a government is better structured with some agencies that are independent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Justice Elena Kagan warned that the court should not ignore \u201cthe real-world realities\u201d of what its decisions do. \u201cThe result of what you want is that the president is going to have massive, unchecked, uncontrolled power,\u201d she told Sauer. \u201cWhat you are left with is a president … with control over everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also expressed doubt that more presidential firing power is better for democracy and emphasized that centering so much power under presidential control would undermine issues that Congress decided should be handled by nonpartisan experts in independent agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a president come in and fire all the scientists, and the doctors, and the economists and the PhDs, and replacing them with loyalists and people who don\u2019t know anything is actually not in the best interest of the citizens of the United States,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A 1914 law passed by Congress permits a president to remove FTC commissioners only for cause \u2013 such as inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office \u2013 but not for policy differences. Similar protections cover officials at more than two dozen other independent agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board.<\/p>\n
The conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed concern to Sauer about threatening the independence of the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.<\/p>\n
Kavanaugh asked Sauer: \u201cHow would you distinguish the Federal Reserve from agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission?\u201d<\/p>\n
In another case involving presidential powers, the court will hear arguments on 21 January in Trump\u2019s attempt to remove Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor, a move without precedent that challenges the central bank\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n
Justice department lawyers representing Trump have advanced arguments embracing the \u201cunitary executive\u201d theory. This conservative legal doctrine sees the president as possessing sole authority over the executive branch, including the power to fire and replace heads of independent agencies at will, despite legal protections for these positions.<\/p>\n
Slaughter was one of two Democratic commissioners who Trump moved to fire in March from the consumer protection and antitrust agency before her term expires in 2029. The firings drew criticism from Democratic senators and antimonopoly groups concerned that the move was designed to eliminate opposition within the agency to big corporations.<\/p>\n
Loren AliKhan, a Washington-based US district judge, in July blocked Trump\u2019s firing of Slaughter, rejecting his administration\u2019s argument that the tenure protections unlawfully encroached on presidential power. The US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit in September in a 2-1 decision kept AliKhan\u2019s ruling in place.<\/p>\n
But the supreme court later in September allowed Trump\u2019s ouster of Slaughter to go into effect \u2013 an action that drew dissents from its three liberal justices \u2013 while agreeing to hear arguments in the case.<\/p>\n
The supreme court is expected to rule by the end of June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#supreme #court #appears #set #Trump #FTC #firing #major #expansion #power #supreme #court<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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