U.S. Supreme Court allows Trump to remove Democratic member of Federal Trade Commission

Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday temporarily allowed President Donald Trump to remove a Federal Trade Commission member, granting the White House an interim victory as it seeks to expand its influence over independent agencies across the government.

The order, known as an administrative stay, gives the justices more time to review Trump’s emergency request to dismiss Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who has served on the FTC since 2018. Roberts, who oversees emergency appeals from the D.C. Circuit, directed Slaughter’s legal team to respond to the filing by September 15.

Roberts’ brief order did not explain his reasoning and does not indicate how the Supreme Court may ultimately rule. For now, however, it prevents Slaughter from performing her duties until the case is resolved.

A divided appeals court had previously reinstated Slaughter while litigation continued, but the administration quickly escalated the dispute to the high court. Trump fired her and another Democratic commissioner in March, though no more than three of the FTC’s five members can belong to the same political party under law.

Slaughter, first appointed to the FTC by Trump in 2018 and later re-nominated by President Joe Biden, said she respects the court’s action and intends to see the matter through. “In the week I was back at the FTC it became even more clear that we desperately need the transparency and accountability Congress intended for bipartisan independent agencies,” she said in a statement.

Lower courts had ordered her reinstatement earlier this year, with both a district court and the D.C. Circuit siding against the administration before Roberts’ intervention. The Supreme Court has previously allowed Trump to block some agency board members from returning to work, but it has drawn a distinction around the Federal Reserve, describing it as a unique institution with a special degree of independence.