Trump v. Slaughter · ¶146

Since the founding, Congress has created agencies that in various ways have embodied this goal of independence. Over the last 140 years especially, the political branches have done so by establishing agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): bipartisan, multimember bodies with “for-cause” removal protections. This structure allows the agencies to address complex problems while enjoying some independence from Presidential removal and thus absolute partisan control. More than 90 years ago, this Court affirmed, as to the FTC specifically, that the constitutionality of its members’ “for cause” removal protections “cannot well be doubted.” Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U. S. 602, 629 (1935). Ever since, Congress and more than a dozen Presidents have relied on Humphrey’s to construct a workable Government, creating many other agencies in the FTC’s tradition.

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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