Supremes & Trump’s “You’re Fired” Power

Letter to Ephesians: Democrats who dominate so-called “independent agencies” insist they’re democratic, yet “If [they] are a historical error that the Supreme Court is ready to correct, [isn’t] the right response for Congress to reconsider the authority it has granted these bodies”? Ho? Ho? Ho?

That was the gist of the WSJ’s op ed as the Supremes are to rule on President Trump’s constitutional right or power to fire, with or without cause, a member of the Federal Trade Commission who doesn’t agree with his policies. The editors wonder out loud, “Maybe it WAS a mistake all along to empower a vast DC bureaucracy” like the FTC & a growing number of other “independent agencies” (like the Federal Reserve Board) that are answerable to no one but themselves. As the opinion noted: “Who enforces federal laws? Although a fifth-grader could answer it’s the President, that explanation long ago ceased to be the full story, going back at least to the Progressive Era. But the Supreme Court lately has been re-separating the branches of government and on Monday it accepted a case that could plant a landmark.”

Trump and his legal team, we’re told, has openly challenged the leadership of those rogue-like agencies as a gross “deviation from the Founders’ design.” In March, No. 47 fired Rebecca Slaughter from her FTC post even though in 1935 the High Court in Humphrey’s Executor had upheld a law saying a President can’t remove FTC commissioners except for cause like malfeasance. The lower courts have backed Ms. Slaughter but a majority of Justices this week stayed her reinstatement pending arguments scheduled for December. The key Q to be decided: Does the FTC law violate the constitution’s separation of powers clause and whether Humphreys should be reversed? If so, does a similar law elevating the FED to Almighty status also violate the constitution? But why stop there? How about “Does the judicial branch have the power to “prevent a[ny] person’s removal from public office?” Stay tuned for St. Nick’s call. Ho. Ho. Ho.

Davd Soul