“Today’s decision in Trump v. Slaughter takes a wrecking ball to a 90-year pillar of American law and to Congress’s power to create independent expert agencies that serve the will of the American people as expressed in federal law rather than the whimsical political agenda of one President.
“In overturning Congress’s authority to prevent the President from removing the leaders of independent agencies at whim, the Court’s right-wing majority has given President Trump sweeping new power to purge Senate-confirmed commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other independent agencies for no reason other than personal loyalty, political obedience or refusal to bend the law to the personal will of the president. This decision invites presidential domination of the independent agencies Congress created to protect the people against corporate fraud, financial corruption, attacks on workers’ rights, and other abuses of concentrated economic and political power.
“Under today’s decision, independent enforcement of the law can be replaced with political intimidation and personal loyalty tests. The FTC was built to protect consumers, workers, small businesses and fair competition through independent, nonpartisan enforcement of the law. Congress deliberately insulated FTC Commissioners from removal so that antitrust and consumer protection enforcement would not become a partisan spoils system.
“The Court’s decision in Slaughter is all the more peculiar in light of its decision in another case involving the Federal Reserve Board, Trump v. Cook. There, the Court rightly rejected President Trump’s lawless attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook without adequate cause, due process or judicial review. Central bank independence matters immensely to the American economy and to every family paying a mortgage, using a credit card or trying to keep up with prices. But Congress’s constitutional judgments about the necessity of institutional independence should matter just as much at the FTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Communications Commission and the many other important independent agencies Congress has created to serve the interests of the American people.
“Congress has the constitutional power and democratic responsibility to design agencies that administer the law with expertise, independence and fidelity to the public interest. House Democrats will fight this dangerous attack on congressional power and on the people’s right to a federal government that serves the rule of law and not one man’s passing whims.”
