Chief Justice John Roberts Is Trying His Darnedest to Make Trump a Dictator

"On Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts once again narrowed the strike zone for separation of powers and the rule of law. He did so without explanation, but that's all right, because he says it's only for a little while. From the AP: Trump first moved to fire Rebecca Slaughter in the spring, but she sued and lower courts ordered her reinstated because the law allows commissioners to be removed only for problems like misconduct or neglect of duty."

"Roberts halted those decisions in a brief order, responding to an appeal from the Trump administration on the court's emergency docket. The Justice Department has argued that the FTC and other executive branch agencies are under Trump's control and the Republican president is free to remove commissioners without cause. Monday's order is the latest sign that the Supreme Court's conservative majority has effectively abandoned a 90-year-old high court precedent that protected some federal agencies from arbitrary presidential action."

"Overturning decades-old precedents is quite of a piece with how the carefully manufactured conservative majority operates. ( Humphrey's fell in May in a shadow docket finagle that carved out an exception for the members of the Federal Reserve.) And it's been operating quite a bit these days. From NBC News: The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a federal judge's ruling that restricted federal officers' ability to conduct immigration stops in the Los Angeles area, prompting a harsh rebuke from liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor."

Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily halted lower court rulings that had reinstated FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter after the Trump administration appealed on the Supreme Court's emergency docket. The Justice Department contends that the president may remove commissioners of independent agencies like the FTC without cause, asserting presidential control over executive branch agencies. The court's order signals a retreat from the 1935 Humphrey's Executor precedent that protected independent board members from removal without cause. The conservative majority on the high court has recently overturned or limited long-standing precedents via emergency orders and shadow-docket decisions, affecting agency independence and executive authority.

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