Supreme Court Allows Trump To Fire Democrat Appointees On Federal Panel
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday granted President Donald Trump authority to remove three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), delivering another win for the administration’s efforts to restore executive control over independent federal agencies.
The emergency order overturned a lower court ruling that had blocked the dismissals and temporarily reinstated Commissioners Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and Richard Trumka Jr., all appointed by former President Biden.
In its unsigned order, the Court cited its own precedent from May—when it upheld Trump’s firing of members of the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board—stating that the CPSC “does not differ in any pertinent respect.”
While the order does not settle the underlying legal questions, it allows the terminations to stand as litigation continues. The decision marks the second time this year the Court has sided with Trump on presidential removal powers.
The Court’s three liberal members—Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—publicly dissented, warning that the decision undermines Congress’s long-standing effort to preserve bipartisan independence within regulatory agencies.
“By means of such actions, this Court may facilitate the permanent transfer of authority, piece by piece by piece, from one branch of Government to another,” Kagan wrote.
The ruling bolsters Trump’s broader campaign to reclaim presidential authority eroded over decades of bureaucratic expansion. His administration has challenged 90 years of legal precedent allowing Congress to shield agency heads from at-will removal.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that lower courts have been ignoring Supreme Court guidance by blocking removals, urging justices to take the case directly and settle the matter permanently.
“This case illustrates that the sooner this Court resolves the merits… the better,” Sauer wrote.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed that further delays would create “uncertainty and confusion,” suggesting the Court should directly revisit the precedent limiting presidential removal power.
The three commissioners, removed earlier this year, were appointed by President Biden and were supposed to serve fixed terms under statutes requiring “cause” for dismissal—such as neglect of duty or malfeasance. Those same protections exist for several other federal regulatory bodies.
The consumer group Public Citizen, representing the dismissed officials, urged the Court not to intervene, arguing the government “cannot establish its entitlement to this extraordinary relief.”
With Wednesday’s order, Trump gains another legal victory in his push to assert stronger executive oversight of federal agencies long shielded from direct accountability to the White House.