The Big Picture

12/09/2025

There are moments in history when the lawyers gulp hard, even if most of the country has no inkling what just went down. Yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing in the aptly named Trump v. Slaughter case provided just such a “gulp” moment.

At first blush, especially to non-lawyers, the stakes seem fairly limited. Should the President be able to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) whenever he wants, even if Congress said she can only be fired for cause?

Proponents, who have been advancing the awkwardly titled “unitary executive” theory for the last five decades, say absolutely yes. They view the President like a CEO. Everyone who serves in the Executive Branch, with the possible exception of the Federal Reserve Board, serves at his pleasure and therefore can be fired at will, no matter what Congress says.

Opponents say no, our system of government requires independent expertise and judgment from such appointees. And those entrusted with regulation should not be subject to the political pressures of at-will employment. That has been the law and the unbroken rule since the 1935 case of Humphrey’s Executor, and there’s no reason for the Supreme Court to change it now.

A decision in this case could come down soon, but the Court likely will wait until it announces its most impactful decisions at the end of the term in late June or early July of 2026. Even before that point, based on yesterday’s oral arguments, officials across the government are effectively on notice that their jobs are at risk if they displease Trump in any way. Those officials are likely to adjust their behavior accordingly, and none of us is better off as a consequence.

Indeed, we should expect the President to grow even more brazen and lawless in response to his implied “unitary executive” powers, just as he did after this same Court granted him near full immunity from criminal prosecution.

When the history of this era is written, the role of the Roberts Court in systematically removing critical guardrails, while letting the White House run wild, must figure prominently. And when Democrats one day take back control of the government, as they will, a top priority must be judicial reform, including expansion of the Supreme Court and term limits for the justices.

And yet. During yesterday’s oral argument, the radical Supreme Court majority appeared poised to overturn or sharply limit Humphrey’s Executor. This would hand Trump more power as a president than we’ve ever seen before. And this comes after these same justices granted him immunity from nearly all criminal prosecution.