Gorsuch warns about executive overreach while expanding Trump’s power

Supreme Court Rules President May Remove FTC Commissioner at Will, Overturning 1935 Precedent

The Supreme Court on Monday held by a 6–3 vote that the president may remove a Federal Trade Commission commissioner without cause, overturning the 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. The ruling in Trump v. Slaughter permits President Donald Trump to terminate FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter’s tenure.

In Humphrey’s Executor, the Court unanimously concluded that the FTC “cannot in any proper sense be characterized as an arm or an eye of the executive” and therefore limited the president’s removal authority over its commissioners. The new decision rejects that characterization.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, stated that the FTC “unquestionably exercises executive power, and must therefore be controlled by the Chief Executive, in whom such power is vested.” He added that Slaughter “served as the President’s subordinate at the FTC—and that the President was entitled to cut her tenure short.”

The majority opinion also described the agency’s operations. Since its creation in 1914, the FTC has accumulated rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudicatory powers under more than 80 statutes. It promulgates rules that carry the force of law and enforces those rules against private parties, collecting civil penalties in the billions of dollars.

Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the majority opinion but wrote a separate concurrence. He agreed that independent agencies exercising executive power must be subject to presidential control. Gorsuch further observed that Congress has delegated to such agencies “vast legislative and judicial powers, effectively allowing these agencies to make laws and decide disputes under them.” He noted that after the decision, the president can effectively exercise those powers as well.

Gorsuch posed several questions in his concurrence: whether Congress would have delegated legislative and judicial authority to independent agencies had it known the president would gain control over them; how Congress might respond; and what, if anything, the Court would do about any resulting constitutional issues.

The decision brings previously independent agencies under greater presidential oversight when they perform executive functions. It does not address the validity of specific agency rules or enforcement actions already taken.

The case arose after President Trump sought to remove Slaughter from the FTC. Lower courts had applied Humphrey’s Executor to block the removal. The Supreme Court’s ruling resolves the dispute in the president’s favor on the removal question.

Legal observers note that the outcome aligns the FTC’s structure with the Court’s recent decisions emphasizing presidential authority over executive-branch officials. The ruling leaves open the possibility of future challenges to particular exercises of agency authority.