Supreme Court to hear case on presidential authority to fire independent board members

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether President Donald Trump has the authority to fire certain board members of independent agencies instead of Congress having to be involved.

The Supreme Court decided to take the case after it ruled in a 6-3 split that Trump can fire Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), while the case plays out, per the Associated Press.

The high court will be ruling on whether to overturn a Franklin Roosevelt-era precedent, established in 1935, that determined a board member can only be removed by a president for misconduct or neglect of duty. The Trump administration has argued that the president should have the authority to fire board members who work for the executive branch. 

The case comes after Trump tried to fire Democratic members of the FTC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and Federal Reserve board of governors. 

“Congress, as everyone agrees, prohibited each of those presidential removals,” liberal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a minority decision. “Yet the majority, stay order by stay order, has handed full control of all those agencies to the President.”

The justices are expected to hear the case in December.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.