Prof. Ilan Wurman Quoted by Bloomberg Law About President’s Ability to Remove Agency Officials

Professor Ilan Wurman, Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, was quoted by Bloomberg Law about the Supreme Court hearing arguments in a case brought by Rebecca Slaughter, commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who is challenging her firing by Donald Trump. Trump v. Slaughter, set for oral argument Dec. 8, will have ramifications not just on presidential power, but also the legitimacy of the Supreme Court’s use of history to justify major changes to U.S. law. The core question in Slaughter’s case is whether the Constitution allows Congress to impose limitations on the president’s authority to fire agency officials. Although the Constitution describes presidential appointment power, it says nothing expressly about removal. The Supreme Court endorsed agency job protections in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor v. US. In addition, more than two-dozen agencies have similar safeguards for their members written in law requiring cause for removal, typically inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. Trump has fired several agency officials in apparent violation of those laws. While recent scholarship does not support the president's power to remove agency officials, Prof. Wurman responded to the newer research in his brief that backs the administration. He said the research was very useful, helping him rethink and hone his arguments, but that its value is limited. He said, “A lot of it isn’t all that new, and what is new doesn’t necessarily prove what its proponents say it does.”