The Future of Independent Commissions
Overview of Supreme Court Precedent and Presidential Power
In a 6-3 decision on June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court held that statutory provisions that allow the president to remove Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners only ‘for cause” violate the Constitution. The court’s decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, explicitly overrules the 1935 Supreme Court case Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which had upheld Congress’s use of statutory provisions limiting the president’s removal of members of the FTC. Courts initially applied Humphrey’s broadly to uphold for-cause removal protections for multimember boards intended…
