Supreme Court Ends For-Cause Removal Protection at Independent Agencies Including the SEC and CFTC

In Trump v. Slaughter, a 6-3 Supreme Court overturned the 90-year-old Humphrey's Executor precedent and let the president remove independent agency officials at will, with the Federal Reserve carved out.

Supreme Court Ends For-Cause Removal Protection at Independent Agencies Including the SEC and CFTC In Trump v. Slaughter, a 6-3 Supreme Court overturned the 90-year-old Humphrey's Executor precedent and let the president remove independent agency officials at will, with the Federal Reserve carved out. Aaron Rafferty June 29, 2026 Key Takeaways The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Slaughter on June 29, 2026, that for-cause removal protections for Federal Trade Commission members are unconstitutional. The decision overturns Humphrey's Executor v. United States, a 90-year-old precedent, and lets the president fire officials at independent agencies at will. The ruling reaches the roughly two dozen multi-member agencies that police markets and fraud, including the SEC and CFTC, while the Court separately shielded the Federal Reserve. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the for-cause protections shielding Federal Trade Commission members from being fired are unconstitutional, overturning a 90-year-old precedent and handing the president broad power over independent agencies. The 6-3 decision in Trump v. Slaughter, reported by CBS News , undoes Humphrey's Executor v. United States, the 1935 case that let Congress insulate agency officials from at-will removal. Independent agencies were built to sit at arm's length from the White House. Congress staffed more than two dozen multi-member commissions with officials who could be removed only for cause, meaning inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. The Court's conservative majority held that those officials exercise executive power and so must answer to the president, who can now remove them at will. The reach goes well beyond the FTC. The same for-cause structure governs the Securities and Exchang