Supreme Court Destroys Independent Agencies and Sets Up Even More Opportunities for Corruption and Corporate Capture

WASHINGTON — On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s power grab by endorsing his ability to fire independent federal agency commissioners at will. In a 6-3 vote, the Court overruled its decision in a 1935 case, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which limited the President’s ability to remove independent agency commissioners for no good reason. 

The current case was touched off by Trump’s firing of Democratic Federal Trade Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya in March 2025. The ruling will impact the FTC, which does crucial work to safeguard people against deceptive practices and unfair competition in the tech industry and all sectors of the economy. But it also undermines the independence of commissioners and directors at other agencies established by Congress like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Election Commission and dozens more.

Free Press Vice President of Policy and General Counsel Matt Wood said: 

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a tragedy for good government, and for the ability of federal agencies to stand up against the overreach and favoritism of this president or any other. Independent agencies can render expert rules and regulations on complex problems in the industries they oversee, moving more quickly and surely than Congress could ever legislate, and more free of partisanship and political interference than the executive branch writ large.

“Donald Trump’s plan has been clear from the start of his second term, but the fact that this brazen corruption happens in the open makes it no less a nightmare. We’ve seen Trump himself, his family, and his agency heads repeatedly put their hands out, approving mergers and granting favors for what can only be called regulatory and literal bribes. They trade government approvals away for political promises and partisan ideological wins, for multi-million-dollar payments and personal enrichment. A ruling blessing this conduct by a Supreme Court that Trump has stacked in his favor changes the constitutional calculus; but it does nothing to lessen the damage from this decision.

“As we noted last year when Trump started purging federal commissions of dissenting votes and voices, getting rid of independent agencies is a textbook tactic of totalitarian regimes around the world. It’s a direct assault on democratic governance — one that will severely harm the most vulnerable among us. It will put a virtual for sale sign on decisions impacting industries that look to monopolize, extract and pollute, and then pay off the administration to look the other way.

“Trump has continued to surround himself with billionaires. It is government by, of, and for the plutocrats. The giant companies harvesting and exploiting our private data, the multinationals looking to crush small businesses, and the crooks and scammers the FTC is supposed to stop will rejoice at this outcome. The path back from it will be difficult, too. We must rebuild from the destruction Trump has caused as soon as possible, with congressional actions and laws that specify the precise powers and duties of any commissioner the president may appoint, and with a level of executive restraint and humility that the Trump regime clearly does not have.”

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