In yet another consequential and contentious use of the emergency docket, the Supreme Court granted President Donald Trump’s application to stay a lower court order that blocked him from immediately removing Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the Democratically-appointed Federal Trade Commissioner, without cause, despite explicit statutory protection under 15 U.S.C Section 41. The 1914 act established the F.T.C. and made clear that the president could only fire an F.T.C. chair due to “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” In other words, the president can only remove an F.T.C. chair for cause, something Trump did not do. 

In what will either clarify or redefine the boundaries of presidential power, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari and scheduled oral arguments in Trump v. Cook, a case which asks whether President Donald Trump has the authority to fire Lisa Cook, a sitting member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Fed).