Trump v. Slaughter · ¶114

If politics rather than neutral technical expertise landed Humphrey the job, they also soon made him a target for removal. Shortly after Democrats swept the election of 1932, President Franklin D. Roosevelt fired Humphrey. The President did not accuse him of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance, the standard Congress had set for the removal of FTC Commissioners. See 38 Stat. 718. Nor does it seem the President was especially concerned with Humphrey’s expertise (or lack of it). Instead, it appears that President Roosevelt could not tolerate the “adamant[ly] conservative” Humphrey holding influence over the FTC during “an important phase of the New Deal,” and he wanted someone more sympathetic for the job. W. Leuchtenburg, The Case of the Contentious Commissioner: Humphreys’ Executor v. U. S., in Freedom and Reform 305– 306 (H. Hyman & L. Levy eds. 1967); see also id., at 305…

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.