Preview: Trump Can Fire (Almost) Anyone Now

Hello and welcome to another Opinion Palooza Extra Edition of Amicus, Slate's podcast about the courts and the law and the Supreme Court. I'm Dahlia Lithwick. This pop-up episode is exclusive to our Slate Plus members. Go to slate.com slash amicusplus to join. And I'm Mark Joseph Stern. We can't do any of this without the support of our amazing plusketeers. And thanks to their support, we are also able to share some of this conversation with our audiences on YouTube and on our main amicus channels. So welcome to all of you. Welcome to you, Mark. You are here to chew over the decisions that came down on Monday morning. This is the penultimate day of the court's 2025 term. The last four decisions are going to come down Tuesday morning, at which point we can all just face plant directly into the algae-covered reflecting pond until next term. Like, I'm so excited about the algae. I can't even, I'm just like, it's like a mask at this point. I have not been down to the reflecting pool to see the algae. I did go to the Great American State Fair this weekend. It was as depressing as everyone says. And those MAGA folks who traveled thousands of miles to see it, I think there might be a few of them who finally leave the cult because of this. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but that's going to be my hope. I loved your blue sky rant about the, like, weird Handmaid's Tale, like signifying pizza. signs. Like it was so like, we don't need words. And there was no pizza. I promised my son pizza. What does a pizza emoji mean on a flag outside of food hall if not pizza, Dahlia? But there was none to be had. And I was the bad dad that day. I laughed very hard. Okay. So Mark, let's let's do this because actually Monday was very consequential. So let's dive into the decisions in reverse order. Which lands us in some very no good news, which is the Slaughter case. The court votes 6 to 3 to allow President Donald Trump to fire anybody he wants from independent agencies that Congress intentionally designed to be free of political influence. And Slaughter's not going to get the attention that I think it deserves, but... I think you agree with me. This is going to be the cause of absolute devastation for how the federal government runs, for how independent agencies are independent. This is not going to be repaired for a very long time. We've talked about this case all term. Walk us through where we are and how we got here. Yeah, the conservative supermajority has effectively restructured the United States government in ways that are not required or even allowed by the federal constitution. And that will have sweeping implications for pretty much everyone. But starting with Donald Trump, who can now assert absolute control over every federal agency, except one, which we'll talk about in a second. But here he is allowed to fire members of the Federal Trade Commission. He'll also be able to fire members.

of agencies that regulate nuclear energy, consumer safety, unions, hazardous chemicals, mine safety, crypto, very large swads of the economy, basically all of these bodies that Congress set up. to enforce the law in a neutral bipartisan or nonpartisan way, relying on experts. They're now just going to become an arm of the White House and of Donald Trump's agenda. And he is going to be able to fire the people he doesn't like, fire the Democrats, replace them with lackeys, and push them to carry out his own preferences rather than working on behalf of the American people. And as you said, Dahlia, like this is going to take a long time to undo if it's ever undone because this is a constitutional hold. that says, as a rule, the president just has this unenumerated right to fire people at will. And I'm very worried that the reasoning here extends beyond the heads of agencies down into the civil service. I mean, there's a lot of language in Chief John Roberts' opinion for the six three majority that suggests that anyone who is exercising any kind of executive power who qualifies as a subordinate of the president must be removable at will. And the Trump administration has already been arguing. that that includes many, if not all, members of the Federal Civil Service, right? Federal employees across the executive branch who have long had these protections based on merit, based on the idea that this shouldn't be all just partisan politics. That idea is under fire from this opinion. So we know the immediate consequences, but they could get a whole lot worse. This all happened on the shadow docket, so anybody who's surprised wasn't paying attention. But one of the things that happens is the express decision to overturn Humphrey's executor. And we've been talking about that case truly all year for more than that. The court could have gone small, but this is a maximalist court going big every time. And kneecapping both Congress, right? really important to be clear that we keep talking about like, oh, you know, supine, you know, uninterested Congress. But like, Congress doesn't get to be interested if the court tells them what they can do. And then I think just independent, thoughtful, as you suggested, neutral expertise. It's all gone. All gone and so too is a nearly century old precedent that I think has served this nation very well, right? Humphrey's executor was a 91-year-old decision unanimous by the Supreme Court that very sensibly held that Congress in its constitutional authority to create these agencies also has authority to limit their partisan influence by the White House and to limit the president's ability to interfere with them because they are part of the executive branch, but the president is not a dictator. And he doesn't have total and absolute control over every inch of the executive branch. And today the Supreme Court just throws all that out, right? Now it's the president is the executive branch. He is his own branch of government. He exercises dictatorial control over the powers of his office. And that is, I mean, it's really a historical. It is sweeping. It is maximalist. It is aggressive. I think it's another example of this dynamic that you and I have been talking about where there is no kind of.

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