SCOTUS takes up Trump’s bid to fire FTC commissioner at will — a showdown that could topple 90-year precedent

The Supreme Court will weigh the legality of President Donald Trump s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Exchange Commission without cause on Monday a blockbuster legal fight that could fundamentally reshape the balance of powers across the federal governing body and formally topple a -year-old court precedent Justices agreed earlier this year to take up the scenario which centers on Trump's firing of Federal Agreement Commission member Rebecca Slaughter a Democrat without cause and well before her term was slated to expire in Slaughter sued directly to challenge her removal arguing that it violated protections the Supreme Court enshrined in Humphrey's Executor a ruling that restricted a president's ability to remove the heads of independent agencies such as the FTC without cause LAWYERS FOR COOK DOJ CONTRACT BLOWS AT HIGH-STAKES CLASH OVER FED FIRINGSlaughter also argued her removal violates the Federal Agreement Commission Act or a law passed by Congress that shields FTC members from being removed by a president except in circumstances of inefficiency neglect of duty or malfeasance in office A federal judge sided with Slaughter's lawyers in July agreeing that her firing unlawfully exceeded Trump's executive branch powers and ordered her reinstated The Supreme Court in September stayed that decision temporarily allowing Trump's firing to remain in effect pending their review The Supreme Court's willingness to review the incident is a sign that justices might be ready to do away totally with Humphrey's protections which have already been weakened significantly over the last years Allowing Humphey's to be watered down further or overturned entirely could allow sitting presidents to wield more authority in ordering the at-will firing of members of other federal regulatory agencies including the National Labor Relations Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission among others and replacing them with persons of their choosing The six conservative justices on the high court signaled as much when they agreed to review the situation earlier this year Justices split along ideological lines in agreeing to take up the affair with Justices Elena Kagan Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP FROM FIRING FEDERAL BOARD MEMBERS TEES UP SUPREME COURT FIGHTThey petitioned both parties to come prepared to address two key questions in oral arguments First whether the removal protections for FTC members violates the separation of powers and if so whether Humphrey s Executor should be overruled and whether a federal court may prevent a person s removal from citizens office either through relief at equity or at law U S Solicitor General D John Sauer has urged the high court to overrule Humphrey's thoroughly He argued in a filing that the FTC bureaucrats of in the modern day vastly exceed the executives granted to the commission in The notion that selected agencies that exercise executive power can be sequestered from presidential control seriously offends the Constitution s structure and the liberties that the separation of powers protects he commented A decision is expected to be handed down by the end of June TRUMP WARNS SUPREME COURT TARIFF SHOWDOWN IS LIFE OR DEATH FOR AMERICAThe affair Trump v Slaughter is one of four cases the Supreme Court's conservative majority has agreed to review this term that centers on key separation of powers issues and questions involving the so-called unitary executive theory Critics have cited concerns that the court's decision to take up the cases could eliminate lasting bulwarks in place to protect against the whims of a sitting president regardless of political party It also comes as justices for the Supreme Court's - conservative majority have grappled with a flurry of similar lawsuits filed this year by other Trump-fired Democratic board members including National Labor Relations Board NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board MSPB member Cathy Harris The arguments in Trump v Slaughter will be closely watched and are expected to inform how the court will consider a similar incident in January centered on Trump's attempted ouster of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Since taking office Trump has signed hundreds of executive orders and ordered sweeping personnel actions that have restructured federal agencies and led to mass layoffs across federal agencies including leaders that were considered to be insulated from the whims of a sitting president