Court expands presidential removal power

What's happened

The Supreme Court has ruled that the president can remove leaders of most independent federal agencies, overturning the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent, while carving out an exception for the Federal Reserve. The decisions leave Lisa Cook in place for now but open the door for presidents to exert new control over agencies such as the FTC, shifting regulatory power toward the White House.

What's behind the headline?

What changed

• The Court has overruled Humphrey’s Executor for nearly all independent agencies, restoring the president’s authority to remove commissioners at will.
• The Court has preserved the Federal Reserve’s special status for now: Fed governors cannot be dismissed without procedural cause, and Lisa Cook will remain on the Board while lower courts examine the charges.

What this will do

• The White House will gain direct leverage over agencies that set and enforce economic, consumer and competition rules. That will make regulatory decisions more politically driven and will reduce internal institutional checks.
• Agencies such as the FTC, NLRB and CFPB will see their leadership become replaceable if commissioners do not follow presidential priorities, which will accelerate partisan reshaping of enforcement.

Practical consequences

• The president will be able to threaten removals to change regulatory outcomes; agencies will respond by aligning decisions with the administration to avoid destabilising leadership changes.
• The Fed will retain some operational insulation for monetary policy, but the ruling left open procedures by which a future president could try again to remove a governor if they follow stricter process.

What to watch next

• Congress will face pressure to write clearer statutes defining "for cause" protections for the Fed or to restore statutory guardrails for other agencies.
• Expect immediate personnel pressure at the FTC and similar bodies and an uptick in litigation as dismissed officials seek reinstatement or damages.

Bottom line

The Court has shifted the balance of power inside the executive branch: regulatory and enforcement authority will move closer to the presidency, while the central bank keeps a narrower zone of independence.

How we got here

The rulings stem from two cases: Trump v. Slaughter, over the firing of FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, and Trump v. Cook, over efforts to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook. Trump fired agency commissioners in 2025 and challenged protections that had insulated regulators from at‑will removal.

Our analysis

The coverage shows broad agreement on the legal effect but different emphases. AP News quotes Chief Justice John Roberts writing that removal protections "are contrary to the separation of powers" and notes the court kept Lisa Cook on the Fed board while sending the dispute back to lower courts. Axios frames the rulings as a historic unraveling of agency independence, warning that "decisions over people's money, jobs, votes and health shift toward the president and nine justices appointed for life." Axios also highlights that the FTC will lose Democratic commissioners and that the ruling will "vastly expand presidential power." The Independent stresses the ideological stakes: Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned the ruling gives the president "far greater power than ever before," and the piece points to earlier Supreme Court decisions that have supported the administration. Bloomberg and CNBC emphasize the institutional effect: Bloomberg notes that the court has "toppled" the Humphrey’s precedent, and CNBC cites Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence that "independent agencies are not so independent after all." Across these sources, direct quotes anchor the claims: Rebecca Slaughter told reporters that commissioners must be "insulated from political interference," and Justice Sotomayor wrote that the Court "upends its precedent, misconstrues our history, and sheds any pretense of judicial modesty." Together, the sources show consensus that the rulings increase presidential control while diverging on how severe long‑term consequences will be and how resilient the Fed’s independence will remain.

Go deeper

• How will Congress respond to restore agency independence?
• Which current agency rules are most likely to change now?
• What legal steps can removed commissioners take to challenge firings?

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