Supreme Court Allows Trump to Fire FTC Member for Now

The high court will hear the case in December and reconsider a decades-old precedent that limits who Trump can fire.

Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter participates in a privacy roundtable at CES 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. on Jan. 7, 2020. Photo by David Becker/Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Sept. 22 temporarily upheld President Donald Trump’s authority to fire Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member Rebecca Slaughter, and announced it will hear a challenge to a 90-year-old precedent limiting that authority.

The decision came in an unsigned order that says the justices will consider whether to overturn Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), which upheld a federal law preventing the president from removing FTC members without cause.