CNN: John Roberts fought for decades to overturn Humphrey’s Executor
The 6-3 ruling revives a unitary executive theory and gives presidents broader control over independent regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission.
- On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling overturning the 1935 Humphrey's Executor precedent, authorizing the president to remove heads of independent agencies without cause while carving out an exception for the Federal Reserve.
- Chief Justice John Roberts led the majority, culminating a 40-year campaign to cement the 'unitary executive theory' asserting the Constitution vests absolute oversight of the federal bureaucracy in the president.
- President Donald Trump fired FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter in March 2025 after deeming her service 'inconsistent with my Administration's priorities,' sparking the legal challenge that reached the Supreme Court.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a scathing dissent, warning the court granted the president a power 'unknown even to the English Crown,' while critics fear widespread political patronage.
- Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann labeled the ruling 'ahistoric,' arguing it extends the expansive presidential immunity established in 2024 and reflects a result-oriented judiciary.
13 Articles
13 Articles
For more than 40 years, since his days as a junior lawyer in the Reagan administration, Chief Justice John Roberts has advocated for an exceptionally powerful U.S. presidency, capable of removing the heads of independent agencies…
John Roberts fought for decades to overturn Humphrey’s Executor
For more than 40 years, since his service as a young Reagan administration lawyer, Chief Justice John Roberts has pressed for an exceptionally powerful US president, one who could fire the heads of independent agencies at any time.
John Roberts used one 'chilling' word in new ruling that unnerved ex-prosecutor
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann fixed on a single word in Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion and said it left him deeply unsettled.Reacting on air to Monday's 6-3 ruling in Trump v. Slaughter, which overturned 91 years of precedent and lets the president fire members of independent agencies without cause, Weissmann said the decision extends the theory of expansive presidential power Roberts laid out in the Trump v. United St…
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