(Washington) The American Supreme Court on Monday showed itself inclined to agree with the Trump administration which claims the right to dismiss the heads of independent federal agencies at will, with the issue of a further extension of executive power.
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Donald Trump, who became famous for his cult phrase “You’re fired!” in a reality TV show, has fired the heads of numerous independent organizations since his return to power in January.
The Supreme Court’s six conservative justices — out of nine in total — have authorized most of these dismissals, even when the government has avoided the legal obligation to justify them by misconduct or failure.
This was the case for the dismissal in March of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat who held one of the five commissioner positions of the American Competition Authority (FTC), a bipartisan agency.
The Court provisionally authorized its referral, before examining this case on its merits on Monday.
The highest American court nevertheless took the trouble to clarify that these decisions did not concern the governors of the Federal Reserve (Fed). She also suspended the dismissal of a Fed official, Lisa Cook. A file which she will debate in January.
At the hearing Monday, Trump administration legal counsel John Sauer criticized these independent agencies for “escaping any political accountability or democratic oversight.”
“These agencies have no boss and are not accountable to voters,” he declared, asking the Court to reverse a 1935 case law.
“Empty shell”
“These independent agencies exist because Congress has decided that this is how certain issues and certain areas must be managed by apolitical experts,” objected progressive judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
So for a president to come in and fire all the scientists, doctors, economists and academics and replace them with cronies and people who know nothing is not in the interest of American citizens.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
“The result of what you want would be to give the president massive powers without any checks,” also worried his progressive colleague Elena Kagan.
If the government wins its case, “everything is on the block and not just the FTC,” added Rebecca Slaughter’s lawyer, Amit Agarwal, estimating that the fate of “more than twenty independent agencies” was at stake.
But most conservative judges have downplayed the significance of a reversal of the 1935 jurisprudence, which has considerably eroded.
The President of the Court, John Roberts, described it as an “empty shell”.
Reversing this case law or limiting it “would not threaten the existence of these agencies, but would only modify the way in which the leaders of these agencies can be dismissed,” said conservative magistrate Brett Kavanaugh.
For several years, the Court has significantly clipped the wings of federal agencies, hated by conservative circles in crusade against “bureaucracy”.
Its decision is expected by the end of its session at the end of June.
Created in 1914, the FTC is normally headed by five commissioners, three from the ruling party and the other two from the opposition.
She notably sued the American technology giants Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta (Facebook, Instagram), all accused of abuse of a dominant position.
