Huffington Post - The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow the president to fire officials at independent agencies, teeing up a case that could significantly expand the president’s control over the executive branch.
Trump has run a bulldozer over agency independence since taking office, breaking precedent by removing Democratic members from boards and commissions in the middle of their terms. Several officials have won temporary reinstatement to their jobs arguing their terminations violated the law and Supreme Court precedent.
The White House is now hoping the court will block those reinstatements and bless Trump’s firings.
The administration’s filing Wednesday revolves around two particular officials Trump ousted: Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board. But a broad ruling in the case could apply to a slew of officials Trump has fired, and give the president much greater influence over traditionally independent bodies.
A 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor protects officials at independent, quasi-judicial bodies from being removed except as authorized by Congress. But the White House argues that such limits on the president’s power are unconstitutional and wants the court’s conservative supermajority to overturn them.
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