The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the Trump administration, permitting the removal of three Democratic members from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. These commissioners, initially dismissed by President Donald Trump, had been temporarily reinstated by a lower court.
The justices granted an emergency request from the Justice Department, which maintained that the commission falls under President Trump’s executive authority and that he has the right to remove its members without cause. The Court issued a brief, unsigned order, stating the case was similar to previous decisions allowing Trump to dismiss members of other independent agencies, despite congressional protections against arbitrary firings.
The Court’s three liberal justices dissented. “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,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is tasked with protecting the public from hazardous products through recalls, lawsuits, and other regulatory actions. The three Democrats, who held seats on the five-member commission, had been appointed by President Joe Biden to serve seven-year terms. Trump dismissed them in May.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox, a Biden appointee, ruled in June that the firings were unlawful, distinguishing the commission’s role from other agencies where the Supreme Court had previously upheld removals. Maddox noted that the commission’s functions are not easily defined as strictly executive.
Just a month earlier, the Court’s conservative majority declined to reinstate members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, concluding that the Constitution permits the president to remove such officials “without cause.” The administration has asserted that all federal agencies ultimately fall under the president’s control as head of the executive branch.
This dispute could set the stage for a challenge to the 1935 Supreme Court ruling in Humphrey’s Executor, which barred presidents from removing members of independent commissions without cause. That landmark decision led to the rise of autonomous regulatory bodies overseeing labor, civil rights, broadcasting, and more—structures long criticized by conservatives for being constitutionally flawed.
Kagan argued the current Court has already “all but overturned Humphrey’s Executor.”
Additional cases involving removals are also moving through the courts. One involves the firing of Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter—part of the same agency involved in the original Humphrey’s Executor case. Slaughter was briefly reinstated last week by a federal judge, but an appeals court has since paused that order.
Established in 1972, the Consumer Product Safety Commission requires bipartisan representation, with no more than three of its five members from the president’s party. They serve staggered terms to allow each president influence—though not full control—over the body.
Attorneys for the ousted commissioners argued that this structure protects the agency’s independence, and warned in court filings that the terminations could undermine that balance.
