LIVE Updates: SC signals support for expanding presidential power over independent agencies

Live Updates: The Supreme Court appeared poised on Monday to increase presidential authority over independent federal agencies, indicating backing for President Donald Trump’s removal of board members. The court’s conservative justices hinted they might overturn a 90-year-old ruling that restricts when presidents can dismiss agency board members, or significantly weaken its impact, according to AP.

Administration lawyers are defending Trump’s move to dismiss Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member Rebecca Slaughter without cause and are urging the Court to overturn the unanimous 1935 Humphrey’s Executor decision.

The case was heard on Monday. Arguments at the court ended after 2.5 hours, reports noted.

The court’s six conservative justices have already indicated firm backing for the administration’s stance. Despite objections from the three liberal justices, they permitted Slaughter and other agency board members to be dismissed while their lawsuits are still underway.

Trump has also removed officials from the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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Live Updates: What is FTC's function?

The FTC is tasked with safeguarding the American public from deceptive or unfair business practices. It has taken on tech giants such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta (Facebook’s parent company) over concerns about their market dominance, as per AFP.

The FTC is led by five commissioners, usually representing both major political parties, with a chair appointed by the president.

Live Updates: Solicitor General John Sauer seeks to expand president’s authority over independent agencies, says present situation creates ‘power vacuum’

Solicitor General John Sauer, speaking for the administration, urged the justices to overturn the landmark 1935 ruling known as "Humphrey's Executor," which barred then president Franklin Roosevelt from removing a member of the FTC, a report by AFP noted.

Sauer argued that the present situation creates a "power vacuum" and that the president, as chief executive, should have the authority to dismiss members of the FTC and the roughly two dozen other independent agencies with similar structures at will.

Sauer stated, “The real world consequences here are human beings exercising enormous governmental authority with a great deal of control over individuals and businesses... who ultimately do not answer to the president", adding, "We think the text of the Constitution confers the executive power, all of it, on the president."

Live Updates: What does the 1914 law passed by Congress say?

A 1914 law passed by Congress allows the president to remove FTC commissioners only for specific reasons, such as inefficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct, but not over disagreements on policy, according to Reuters. Comparable safeguards exist for officials at more than two dozen other independent agencies, including the National Labour Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Live Updates: What did lawyers of Rebecca Slaughter say?

Lawyers representing Slaughter recognised that the FTC's authority has expanded since the Humphrey's Executor ruling, as per Reuters. However, referencing Supreme Court precedent, they contended that the constitutionality of restrictions on removal is not dependent on how extensive an agency’s regulatory and enforcement power.

Live Updates: What did US District Court say earlier on Trump’s dismissal of Slaughter?

Washington-based US District Judge Loren AliKhan in July blocked Trump’s dismissal of Slaughter, rejecting the administration’s claim that the tenure protections unlawfully infringed on presidential authority. In September, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, upheld AliKhan’s ruling, according to Reuters.

Later that month, the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s removal of Slaughter to take effect, an action that drew dissents from its three liberal justices, while agreeing to hear the case.

The lower courts found that the statutory protections preventing FTC members from being removed without cause are constitutional, consistent with the Humphrey's Executor precedent.

US Supreme Court Live: When is the decision expected?

The decision is expected prior to June end, reported CNN.

US Supreme Court Live: Humphrey's Executor decision a ‘dry husk’, says Chief Justice John Roberts

Chief Justice John Roberts described the ruling known as Humphrey's Executor as “a dry husk", according to AP.

US Supreme Court Live: Justices question relevance of historic precedent

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, at one point questioned Slaughter’s attorney about the claim that “independent agencies are not accountable to the people.” Chief Justice John Roberts also challenged attorney Amit Agarwal on the relevance of a 1935 precedent, Humphrey’s Executor v. US, which Slaughter argued should determine the case in her favor.

That ruling , long considered at risk of being overturned, held that Congress can require a president to provide a reason before removing leaders of independent agencies. Roberts countered that the historic precedent has “nothing to do with what the FTC looks like today,” noting that the original decision “was addressing an agency that had very little, if any executive power.”

Roberts suggested that the current FTC now exercises the kind of authority that ought to fall under the president’s control.

US Supreme Court LIVE: SC signals support for expanding presidential power over independent agencies

A majority of the Supreme Court seemed inclined to support President Donald Trump’s claim that he should have the authority to remove officials from independent agencies, which have traditionally been shielded from presidential influence for nearly a century, according to CNN.

During over two hours of oral arguments, the court’s six conservative justices focused intensely on points raised by an attorney representing Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, whom Trump dismissed from the Federal Trade Commission in March, indicating the case could potentially reshape the structure of the federal government.

US Supreme Court LIVE: Liberal SC judges react

Arguments heard at the Supreme Court in Rebecca Slaughter’s case challenging her removal from the Federal Trade Commission by Trump could potentially upend long-standing precedent and expand the executive branch’s control over federal agencies, reported NBC News. The three justices on the Court’s liberal wing offered what was likely the most forceful commentary of the session during their questioning.

“You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that the government is better structured with some agencies that are independent,” NBC News quoted Justice Sonia Sotomayor as saying.

Justice Elena Kagan stated, “Once you’re down this road, it’s a little bit hard to see how you stop."

“Having a president come in and fire all the scientists and the doctors and the economists and the PhDs and replacing them with loyalists and people who don’t know anything is actually not in the best interest of the citizens of the United States,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson mentioned.

US Supreme Court LIVE: Conservative justices downplay expanding presidential removal power's impact

While discussing Trump’s authority to remove the heads of independent agencies, the Supreme Court’s conservative justices argue that permitting a president to dismiss certain agency leaders would not have major consequences, according to CNN.