Chief justice lets Trump remove member of Federal Trade Commission for now
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts arrives before President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-09-08T15:08:35Z
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday let President Donald Trump remove a member of data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/hub/federal-trade-commission">the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by Supreme Court.
Trump first data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ftc-firings-bedoya-slaughter-488bfe5419e48d5acbd95d3f9401404b">moved to fire Rebecca Slaughter in the spring, but she sued and lower courts ordered her reinstated because the law allows commissioners to be removed only for problems like misconduct or neglect of duty.
Roberts halted those decisions in a brief order, responding to an appeal from the Trump administration on the court’s emergency docket.
The Justice Department has argued that the FTC and other executive branch agencies are under Trump’s control and the Republican president is free to remove commissioners without cause.
Slaughter’s lawsuit over her firing will keep playing out, as Roberts asked her lawyers to respond to the Trump administration’s arguments by next week.
The court has previously data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-consumer-product-safety-f0ed5ff2409287440f5067d64031429d">allowed the firings of several other board members of independent agencies. It has suggested, however, that his power to fire has limitations at the Federal Reserve, a prospect that could soon be tested with data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-trump-cook-8c81cf9978f5ca33304753e875355a80">the case of Fed Gov. Lisa Cook.
Monday’s order is the latest sign that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has effectively abandoned a 90-year-old high court precedent that protected some federal agencies from arbitrary presidential action.
In the 1935 decision known as data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/humphreys-executor-supreme-court-trump-independent-agencies-8facfe6107fa94b28f391734d1620fe4">Humphrey’s Executor, the court unanimously held that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.
The decision ushered in an era of powerful independent federal agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment discrimination, the airwaves and much else. But it has long rankled conservative legal theorists who argue the modern administrative state gets the Constitution all wrong because such agencies should answer to the president.
The agency at the center of the case was also the FTC, a point cited by lower-court judges in the lawsuit filed by Slaughter. She has ping-ponged in and out of the job as the case worked its way through the courts.
The FTC is a regulator created by Congress that enforces consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. Its seats are typically comprised of three members of the president’s party and two from the opposing party.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court and legal affairs for The Associated Press. She’s won multiple journalism awards in a career that’s spanned two decades.
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Chief justice lets Trump remove member of Federal Trade Commission for now
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December 19, 2025, 02:08:25 AM