WASHINGTON D.C. — In a seismic victory for executive power, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump to dismantle the “independent” administrative state, issuing an emergency order that allows him to fire three Democrat-appointed officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
The 6-3 ruling, handed down on Wednesday, overrides a lower court decision that had blocked the terminations. It marks the second time in months that the high court has sided with the Trump administration’s aggressive push to remove Obama and Biden-era holdovers from powerful federal boards.
“REMOVE THEM ALL”
The emergency order targets Commissioners Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and Richard Trumka Jr., all of whom were reinstated by a lower court while litigation continued. The Supreme Court’s majority opinion, citing a similar ruling in May, declared that the lower court’s block was invalid.
“Although our interim orders are not conclusive as to the merits, they inform how a court should exercise its equitable discretion in like cases,” the unsigned order read.
This decision reinforces President Trump’s argument that the executive branch—and by extension, the President elected by the people—must have the authority to remove subordinate officials, regardless of “independent” protections created by Congress.
KAVANAUGH: “GO FURTHER”
While the ruling is a massive win for the White House, Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaled that he is ready to go even further. In a concurring opinion, Kavanaugh argued that the Court should have taken up the case on its regular docket to settle the constitutional question once and for all: Can Congress shield bureaucrats from the President?
“Further percolation in the lower courts is not particularly useful,” Kavanaugh wrote, warning that inaction could lead to “extended uncertainty and confusion.”
Solicitor General D. John Sauer had urged the justices to bypass the lower courts entirely, arguing that judges like U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox were openly defying Supreme Court direction by protecting the commissioners.
DISSENTERS PANIC
The ruling sparked immediate outrage from the Court’s liberal wing. Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, issued a scathing dissent, accusing the majority of facilitating a “permanent transfer of authority” from Congress to the President.
“The Court has negated Congress’s choice of agency bipartisanship and independence,” Kagan wrote.
However, for the Trump administration, the ruling is a validation of their mandate to reshape the federal government. By successfully challenging a 90-year-old precedent that protects “independent” agencies, President Trump is systematically reclaiming executive authority, ensuring that federal commissions answer to the White House—and the voters—rather than operating as unaccountable fiefdoms.
