Trump v. Slaughter (FTC Commissioner removal / Humphrey’s Executor)
Current understanding
Supreme Court case addressing whether the President may remove FTC Commissioners (Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya) without the statutory ‘inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance’ cause, directly implicating Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935). The ruling bears on the constitutional status of independent multi-member commissions — including the FTC, FCC, SEC, and NRC — that regulate technology platforms, mergers, and emerging tech. For developers and platforms, the case affects the durability of independent-agency rulemaking and enforcement (e.g., FTC tech antitrust and privacy actions); for users, it shapes how insulated regulators may be from direct presidential control.
Evidence log
- 2026-07-28 — A bill to require a quorum of Federal Trade Commissioners to undertake certain rulemaking and policymaking actions, and for other purposes.: cross-connection with ftc-quorum-rulemaking: Both concern FTC institutional capacity when commissioner seats are vacant or contested — S5153 would condition rulemaking on a quorum, while Trump v. Slaughter addresses commissioner removal authority. (novelty: 2)
- 2026-06-29 — Trump v. Slaughter: cross-connection with clean-mergers-act: FTC Commissioner removability directly affects the agency’s independence in merger review, connecting the Slaughter ruling to antitrust-reform vehicles like the CLEAN Mergers Act. (novelty: 5)