The US Supreme Court appears likely to bless President Donald Trump’s decision to remove Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter, a test case that could greatly widen presidential control over independent agencies including the FCC and its lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez.
At the center of the dispute is Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, a 1935 precedent that shields members of commissions such as the FTC and FCC from being fired at will, allowing removal only “for cause.” That framework was designed to give regulators fixed terms and insulation from direct political pressure by the White House.
In more than two hours of oral argument on December 8, several conservative justices signaled they are ready to discard or sharply limit that protection. Chief Justice John Roberts derided Humphrey’s Executor as “a dried husk,” arguing that the FTC of the 1930s “had very little, if any, executive power,” unlike today’s powerful, enforcement-oriented agencies.
The Court’s liberal wing warned that undoing the precedent would hand presidents sweeping new influence over domestic policy. Justice Elena Kagan cautioned that such a ruling would give the White House “control over everything, including over much of the lawmaking that happens in this country.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said stripping the safeguard could let presidents “fire all the scientists, and the doctors, and the economists and the PhDs” at independent commissions and replace them with loyalists.
Concerns were not confined to Democratic appointees. Justice Brett Kavanaugh pressed advocates on what a broad decision might mean for the independence of the Federal Reserve, underscoring that the case could reset the balance between political accountability and arm’s-length expertise across the administrative state.
For Anna Gomez, the implications are immediate. Serving alongside Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty as the FCC’s only Democrat, she has repeatedly accused the Republican majority of “weaponizing” the agency’s powers. Speaking at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum, Gomez vowed to contest any mid-term dismissal in court, telling the audience, “If I get fired, it isn’t because I didn’t do my job. It’s because I insisted on doing it.”
With two FCC seats already vacant and no announced successors for Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks, removing Gomez could leave the Commission without the quorum it needs to function, an unprecedented shutdown of the agency’s core responsibilities. The Court is expected to issue its ruling by the end of June.