> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Chief Justice Lets Trump Remove Members of Federal Trade Commission For Now
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/chief-justice-lets-trump-remove-members-of-federal-trade-commission-for-now/
- Published: 2025-09-08T18:18:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-11T05:46:34.000Z
- Description: Chief Justice John Roberts let President Trump remove an FTC commissioner, hinting at fewer limits on presidential power.
- Author: Associated Press
- Tags: Supreme Court, #with-siderail, John Roberts, Donald Trump, FTC, Rebecca Slaughter, Federal Reserve, Humphrey's Executor, Congress, Trump Vance Administration, Democracy

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2025 (AP) — Chief Justice **John Roberts** on Monday let President **Donald Trump** remove a member of [the Federal Trade Commission](https://apnews.com/hub/federal-trade-commission?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com), the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by Supreme Court.

Trump first [moved to fire](https://apnews.com/article/trump-ftc-firings-bedoya-slaughter-488bfe5419e48d5acbd95d3f9401404b?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) **Rebecca Slaughter** in the spring, but she sued and lower courts ordered her reinstated because the law allows commissioners to be removed only for problems like misconduct or neglect of duty.

Roberts halted those decisions in a brief order, responding to an appeal from the Trump administration on the court’s emergency docket.

[![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/97/29976d9d-89ea-4c77-8c0b-0e8a0eafed35/content/images/2025/08/blue-words-final__1600_x_500_px___2_-2.png)](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/welcome/#/portal/signup/free) 

[***There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...**](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/welcome)

[Join the Community! ](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/welcome/#/portal/signup/free) 

The Justice Department has argued that the FTC and other executive branch agencies are under Trump’s control and the Republican president is free to remove commissioners without cause.

Slaughter’s lawsuit over her firing will keep playing out, as Roberts asked her lawyers to respond to the Trump administration’s arguments by next week.

The court has previously [allowed the firings](https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-consumer-product-safety-f0ed5ff2409287440f5067d64031429d?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) of several other board members of independent agencies. It has suggested, however, that his power to fire has limitations at the Federal Reserve, a prospect that could soon be tested with [the case of Fed Gov. **Lisa Cook**](https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-trump-cook-8c81cf9978f5ca33304753e875355a80?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com).

Monday’s order is the latest sign that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has effectively abandoned a 90-year-old high court precedent that protected some federal agencies from arbitrary presidential action.

In the 1935 decision known as [Humphrey’s Executor](https://apnews.com/article/humphreys-executor-supreme-court-trump-independent-agencies-8facfe6107fa94b28f391734d1620fe4?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com), the court unanimously held that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.

The decision ushered in an era of powerful independent federal agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment discrimination, the airwaves and much else. But it has long rankled conservative legal theorists who argue the modern administrative state gets the Constitution all wrong because such agencies should answer to the president.

The agency at the center of the case was also the FTC, a point cited by lower-court judges in the lawsuit filed by Slaughter. She has ping-ponged in and out of the job as the case worked its way through the courts.

The FTC is a regulator created by Congress that enforces consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. Its seats are typically comprised of three members of the president’s party and two from the opposing party.

*This article was written by Lindsay Whitehurst of the Associated Press.*