Justice #Kavanaugh pushes the lawyer for the fired #FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter about the #Trump admin’s argument that “independent agencies are not accountable to the people.” The justice asked how the lawyer would respond to the argument that “they’re not elected as #Congress & the President are, & are exercising massive power over individual liberty & billion dollar industries.”

#law #HumphreysExecutor #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #Autocracy #power #ExecutiveBranch #SeparationOfPowers 🧵

Finally Sauer is finished.

The justices will now hear from Amit Agarwal the lawyer representing fired #FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter.

Agarwal is a special counsel for Protect Democracy, which describes itself as “a cross-ideological nonprofit group dedicated to defeating the authoritarian threat.”

He worked as a law clerk for Judge #Kavanaugh on the US Court of Appeals for DC, before #Trump nominated Kavanaugh to #SCOTUS. He also worked as a clerk for Justice Samuel #Alito.

#law 🧵

Nelson’s September article was repeatedly cited by lawyers for Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the member of the #FTC whose firing is at issue in Monday’s case, in her main #SCOTUS brief. In reply, lawyers for #Trump wrote that Ms. Slaughter’s brief “rehashes objections to the removal power” from a “recent essay by Professor Caleb Nelson.”

#law #HumphreysExecutor #ActivistCourt #Autocracy #power #ExecutiveBranch #SeparationOfPowers #Congress 🧵

#Trump is once again asking #SCOTUS to expand his #power as the justices on Monday consider whether he can fire #independent government officials insulated by #laws meant to shield them from #politics.

The case involves Trump’s firing of a commissioner on the #FTC & a landmark decision from 1935, which said that #Congress could put limits on the president’s authority to remove some executive branch officials.

#law #HumphreysExecutor #ActivistCourt #Autocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12/08/us/trump-supreme-court-presidential-power?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Federal laws requiring presidents to show cause are, on the other hand, commonplace. More than 30 statutes say that leaders of executive agencies can be removed only for some combination of the same factors cited in the #law shielding #FTC commissioners like Ms. Slaughter. Another 20 or so, like the one governing the #FederalReserve Board, say only that agency leaders may be removed “for cause,” without elaboration.

#HumphreysExecutor #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #Trump #Autocracy

Under federal #law, #Trump is free to fire Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a member of the #FTC. But he has to provide a reason. #Congress has defined sufficient cause to fire a member of the FTC as “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”

#law #HumphreysExecutor #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #Trump #Autocracy

#Trump is once again asking #SCOTUS to expand his #power as the justices on Monday consider whether he can fire #independent government officials insulated by #laws meant to shield them from #politics.

The case involves Trump’s firing of a commissioner on the #FTC & a landmark decision from 1935, which said that #Congress could put limits on the president’s authority to remove some executive branch officials.

#law #HumphreysExecutor #ActivistCourt #Autocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12/08/us/trump-supreme-court-presidential-power?smid=nytcore-ios-share

The ofcls include Rebecca Slaughter, whose firing from the #FTC is at issue in the current case, as well as ofcls from the #NLRB, #MSPB & #CPSC.

The only ofcls who have so far survived efforts to remove them are Lisa Cook, a #FederalReserve governor, & Shira Perlmutter, a #LibraryOfCongress copyright ofcl. #SCOTUS already has suggested that it will view the Fed differently from other #independent agencies, & #Trump has said he wants her out because of allegations of mortgage fraud.

#law