Gorsuch suggests Supreme Court's Trump ruling is opening move against administrative state
The Supreme Court may have done more Monday than give President Donald Trump new firing power — it may have opened the door to a far broader challenge to the...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Supreme Court may have done more Monday than give President Donald Trump new firing power — it may have opened the door to a far broader challenge to the modern administrative state, the sprawling network of federal agencies that many conservatives have long dubbed the "deep state." In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled Trump could lawfully remove Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, overturning much of the nearly 90-year-old Humphrey's Executor precedent that had protected independent agency officials from at-will dismissal. While Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion held that the FTC's leaders must remain accountable to the president because the agency exercises executive power, Gorsuch argued the ruling raises a broader constitutional question over whether Congress can continue allowing executive agencies to exercise sweeping legislative and judicial powers. "The fourth branch's powers still exist; they have just been reassigned to the President," Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion. SCOTUS TAKES UP TRUMP’S BID TO FIRE FTC COMMISSIONER AT WILL — A SHOWDOWN THAT COULD TOPPLE 90-YEAR PRECEDENT That observation could become the next major front in the Supreme Court's ongoing effort to reshape the modern administrative state. For decades, independent agencies such as the FTC, Securities and Exchange Commission , Federal Communications Commission and National Labor Relations Board have combined multiple governmental functions under one roof. They investigate alleged violations, write regulations carrying the force of law and adjudicate enforcement actions through administrative proceedings. With Humphrey's Executor now overruled , those agencies remain intact, but their leadership is subject to presidential control if they exercise executive power. Gorsuch questioned whether Congress can continue delegating broad legislative and judicial authority to agencies that are now unmistakably under presidential supervision. "The power to write…