Today, TechFreedom filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the Trump administration’s emergency application seeking to deprive the Federal Trade Commission of its independence. In March, President Trump purported to fire two FTC commissioners without cause. In doing so, the President flouted both the FTC Act and Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), the decision that has long safeguarded the independence of many federal agencies. The administration is now asking the Supreme Court to vacate a lower-court order blocking the firings.
“Handing this President unchecked removal power would be utterly irresponsible,” said Corbin K. Barthold, Director of Appellate Litigation at TechFreedom. “This administration is undermining our republic in ways large and small. Permitting the President to go on a firing spree would further destabilize the government and corrode the rule of law. He has already hollowed out some agencies to the point of losing a quorum, and he has made clear he would like to fire officials at the Federal Reserve—an act that could trigger a financial crisis. We shouldn’t be handing matches to an arsonist.”
“Upholding Congress’s power to limit removal does not require judicial innovation or activism,” Barthold continued. “It requires judicial restraint—respect for precedent and continuity in the law. Humphrey’s Executor comfortably governs modern agencies. The decision aligns with the system of checks and balances in our Constitution, and it has proved workable for nearly a century, offering a clear line between permissible multi-member commissions and impermissible novel structures. The Court has recently signaled an interest in overturning Humphrey’s Executor. This case is its chance to reconsider and reverse course.”
The case is Trump v. Slaughter, No. 25A264 (U.S.).
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Find this release on our website, and share it on Twitter and Bluesky. We can be reached for comment at media@techfreedom.org. Read our related work, including:
- Don’t Hand This President Sweeping Removal Power, Substack (Jul. 7, 2025)
- Live: (Fired?) FTC Commissioners Slaughter & Bedoya, Tech Policy Podcast (June 23, 2025)
- The Supreme Court Should Resist Handing Sweeping Removal Powers to this President in the Name of Constitutional Purity, The Unpopulist (May 27, 2025)
- Does the Trump Administration Have “Good Cause” to Skip Notice and Comment?, Federalist Society Blog (May 13, 2025)
- Trump’s Road to Constitutional Perdition, The Bulwark (Apr. 27, 2025)
- Can Trump Fire FTC Commissioners at Will?, Tech Policy Podcast (Mar. 31, 2025)
- Courts Won’t Stop Trump’s Hostile Takeover of the FTC. Here’s How to Resist., Tech Policy Press (Mar. 20, 2025)
- The Constitutional Crisis Is Here, The Bulwark (Mar. 19, 2025)
- Will the Supreme Court Face Down Trump or Flinch?, The Bulwark (Mar 3. 2025)
About TechFreedom:
TechFreedom is a nonprofit, nonpartisan technology policy think tank. We work to chart a path forward for policymakers towards a bright future where technology enhances freedom, and freedom enhances technology.