Can you imagine if the interest rate on your mortgage depended solely on whether the president woke up in a good mood or not? Or if the safety of your children’s toys went from being a technical issue to a political favor? Although it sounds like something out of a dystopian episode of The Twilight Zone, it seems to be on the verge of becoming the norm in the United States.
On Monday, December 8, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court clearly signaled its intention to change the rules of the game. They are ready to allow President Donald Trump to fire members of independent regulatory boards… simply because he disagrees with them.
This would overturn a legal precedent that has maintained balance in Washington for nearly a century. The chief justice himself, John Roberts, went so far as to refer to the old protective shell as a dry husk. If this figurative nutshell breaks, its contents will spill out into the national economy and the lives of all citizens.
The Supreme Court since 1935
We have to go back almost 90 years. At that time, Congress created “independent” agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Reserve. The idea was that complex decisions about economic security would be made by experts: scientists, economists, and doctors. They believed that these decisions were too important to be made by politicians who were more concerned with their reelection than with the welfare of the population.
To protect these workers, the Supreme Court ruled in the Humphrey’s Executor case. That ruling established that the president cannot fire these officials at will. They could not be fired for negligence or criminal offenses. This ensured that regulations would not change drastically every four years with each new presidential election.
This is the shield that is now being called into question. Legal conservatives and the Trump administration defend the “Unitary Executive” theory. They argue that Article II of the Constitution gives the president absolute power over the entire executive branch. The idea is that an agency that does not obey the president and is supposedly accountable to no one may have hidden agendas—or at least, covert interests of its own.
“You are fired.”
It all began in March 2025, when President Donald Trump fired Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Slaughter sued to get her job back, becoming the face of this legal battle. Yesterday, Trump’s lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, defended that decision before the Supreme Court. In his words, the president should have the ability to fire anyone, in order to be truly accountable to voters for the actions of the government.
Liberal judges did not like this: Justice Elena Kagan warned that ruling in Trump’s favor would give him “massive, unchecked, and uncontrolled power.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was even more specific about the human danger.
FAQs
Can President Donald Trump fire someone? Are there laws that protect these officials?
Yes, there are laws that have been in place for 90 years. These laws are based on the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor case. They establish that the president can only fire these officials for “misconduct” or negligence.
However, the Supreme Court—which is the highest authority interpreting the Constitution—seems to be on the verge of clarifying that this old idea is constitutional… so they could overturn it.
Who has President Trump fired under this premise?
Although the central case revolves around Rebecca Slaughter of the FTC, he has also fired members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and has his sights set on Lisa Cook of the Federal Reserve.
What do conservative judges say?
Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh argue that these agencies do indeed have too much power over the economy and businesses.
These officials were not openly elected by anyone, unlike the President, who was elected by the people. For these conservative judges, it is a question of democratic accountability versus stifling bureaucracy.