MS NOW - Monday’s case, called Trump v. Slaughter, is the court’s latest opportunity to empower the Republican president, though its ruling will last beyond Donald Trump — unless and until a future high court majority reverses whatever this one does in its forthcoming decision.
The 1935 precedent is named for a lawsuit brought by the estate of William Humphrey. He was on the Federal Trade Commission, the five-person consumer protection agency whose members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate; commissioners’ staggered terms span administrations; and no more than three of them can be from the same political party. President Franklin Roosevelt sought to fire Humphrey in 1933 before the commissioner’s term was up, and his executor sued for his salary from the time that Roosevelt said he was fired until his death in 1934.
The high court sided with Humphrey while stressing the importance of the agency’s independence. The court noted that the law establishing the FTC said presidents can remove commissioners for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” and that the government hadn’t made such a claim against Humphrey. “The commission is to be non-partisan; and it must, from the very nature of its duties, act with entire impartiality,” the court said.
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