The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that former President Donald Trump may remove President Joe Biden’s appointees to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) without providing a specific reason—at least for now.
This decision represents a shift away from long-standing legal protections designed to shield independent regulatory agencies from direct political influence. The ruling follows the Court’s earlier support for expanded executive authority in similar cases involving other federal agencies.
According to NPR, the Court concluded that the CPSC exercises executive power similar to that of other agencies like the National Labor Relations Board. Therefore, the president may have broader authority to make personnel decisions regarding its leadership.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted that he would have preferred the case be reviewed more thoroughly during the Court’s next term.
However, the Court’s three liberal justices—Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—disagreed with the ruling. In a joint dissent, they expressed concern about the use of the Court’s emergency docket to address such a significant constitutional question. Justice Kagan wrote that the decision could gradually shift power away from Congress and into the executive branch.
Continue reading on next page…