The Daily Fuckup

The Supreme Court on June 29 gave Donald Trump a major win on presidential removal power, holding that the Federal Trade Commission’s for-cause protections for commissioners are unconstitutional and allowing Rebecca Slaughter’s firing to stand. In a separate action the same day, the justices denied the government’s application to stay the lower-court order protecting Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, so Cook remains in office while her case continues. The two rulings move on different tracks, and the Court did not merge them into one outcome. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-332_qn12.pdf))

The FTC decision is the stronger break with past law. The Court said the removal restriction on FTC commissioners conflicts with Article II and the separation of powers, and it rejected the older doctrine that had treated the agency as a special case. That means the White House now has far more room to argue that presidents can fire executive-branch officials without showing one of the statutory causes Congress wrote into the law. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-332_qn12.pdf))

Cook’s case was different from the start. Trump sought emergency relief in a separate application, not in the FTC merits case, and the Court denied that request on June 29. The order left intact the district court’s preliminary injunction blocking the attempted firing while the litigation proceeds. The Court’s Cook opinion also made clear that the denial does not decide whether Cook can ultimately be removed for cause. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=%2Fdocket%2Fdocketfiles%2Fhtml%2Fpublic%2F25a312.html&utm_source=openai))

That split matters politically and legally. Trump can point to a ruling that expands presidential leverage over independent agencies, but he did not get an immediate green light to remove a Fed governor. The Court preserved the Fed dispute as its own case, which keeps the central bank’s independence question alive instead of folding it into the FTC ruling. For now, that leaves Trump with a doctrinal win and Cook with her job intact. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-332_qn12.pdf))