Mon Sep 22 20:42:44 UTC 2025: **Supreme Court to Weigh Presidential Power to Fire FTC Commissioner, Rebecca Slaughter Remains Barred**
**Washington D.C.** – The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case concerning former President Donald Trump’s authority to dismiss Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat, despite congressional job protections designed to insulate the agency from presidential influence.
The decision announced Monday, allows Slaughter to remain barred from her post at the consumer protection and antitrust agency while the case is ongoing. The court will hear arguments in December.
The dispute centers on whether the president can fire agency heads who have removal protections in place. Federal law states that presidents can only remove FTC commissioners for causes like inefficiency or neglect of duty, not policy disagreements. Similar protections exist at other agencies, like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
Trump moved to fire Slaughter in March, raising concerns from Democratic senators and antimonopoly groups who believed the move was intended to eliminate opposition within the agency to big corporations.
The Supreme Court previously allowed Trump’s dismissals at the NLRB and MSPB, citing the President’s wide latitude to fire officials wielding executive power.
Since Slaughter’s removal, the FTC has largely operated with a Republican majority and has been pursuing a conservative policy agenda.
First Piper 