The Supreme Court witnessed a stunning moment Monday when Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson openly championed the power of unelected bureaucrats during oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter. While the case itself concerns the President’s authority to fire Federal Trade Commission officials, Jackson used her time to defend Washington’s sprawling army of “experts,” implying these career ideologues should hold more power than the duly elected President of the United States.
At the center of this legal battle is former President Donald Trump’s March decision to remove two Democratic commissioners from the FTC: Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Trump acted under the plain text of Article II, which grants the President full executive authority. His decision was reinforced by FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who issued a forceful statement making the constitutional hierarchy unmistakable. “President Donald J. Trump is the head of the executive branch and is vested with all of the executive power in our government. I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove Commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government. The Federal Trade Commission will continue its tireless work to protect consumers, lower prices, and police anticompetitive behavior.”
But Slaughter and Bedoya weren’t willing to accept their dismissal. Instead, they sued to reclaim their posts. In July, a Biden-appointed district judge—Loren AliKhan—stepped in to override Trump’s action, ordering Slaughter reinstated. The D.C. Circuit, packed with Obama-era judges, upheld the ruling and leaned heavily on Humphrey’s Executor, a nearly century-old precedent critics say has long shielded bureaucratic fiefdoms from accountability.
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