The Supreme Court again expanded presidential power on Monday, overturning a 1935 precedent in ruling that President Trump has the power to fire the heads of independent agencies without cause. In a decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court’s six-member conservative majority said that legal limits on the president’s power to oust top agency officials without cause violated the Constitution’s separation of powers.
In a separate ruling, the court carved out a notable exception: the Federal Reserve. The justices voted 5-4 to block Trump from firing Fed governor Lisa Cook.
Trump celebrated the expansion of his power, which came in a case brought by Rebecca Slaughter, a former Federal Trade Commission member who challenged his firing.
“It is such an Honor to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers,” Trump wrote in a social media post, later adding: “Today’s Historic Slaughter Decision by the Supreme Court is the Greatest Increase in Presidential Power in the last 100 years. Such a Monumental Ruling at such an important time!”
In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the court’s decision overstepped its proper constitutional role and would lead to the politicization of key government regulatory functions.
“Today, the majority replaces 90 years of proven, workable practice with a half-baked theory of executive power that is simultaneously all encompassing yet also subject to necessary but undefined exceptions,” Sotomayor wrote. “The one thing that does appear to be clear going forward is that chaos will follow.”
Another Fed fight ahead? Roberts wrote in a footnote that the decision in the Cook case does not forbid Trump from “trying again” to fire Cook “if he chooses to do so” using proper procedure, which would involve giving her notice and a chance to challenge her removal for cause.
Trump indicated on social media that he will keep targeting Cook, writing that the decision was based on procedural grounds and that “we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!”
Trump has alleged that Cook engaged in mortgage fraud, but she denies wrongdoing and says that her case was not about mortgage documents she signed years before serving as a Fed governor.
“It was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based only on what would best serve the American people,” Cook said in a statement Monday. “Today’s ruling affirms a principle that has underpinned sound economic stewardship for generations: that the Federal Reserve must make all its policy decisions guided by evidence and independent judgment, free from political interference.”
