A federal judge has restored a Democrat to the Federal Trade Commission, ruling that President Donald Trump illegally fired her earlier this year in his efforts to exert control over independent agencies across the government.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled late Thursday that federal law protects FTC commissioners from being removed by the president without cause, citing a key 1935 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the FTC.
The decision allows Rebecca Kelly Slaughter to resume her duties as commissioner. The FTC website had been updated by Friday morning to show that Slaughter is among four sitting commissioners.
Attorneys for the Trump administration almost immediately declared their intent to appeal, and the case could make its way to the Supreme Court. The conservative-led court already has narrowed the reach of the 90-year-old decision, known as Humphrey’s Executor, and some justices have called for overturning it altogether.
The high court also permitted Trump to fire the heads of other independent agencies. In May, the court allowed Trump to remove members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, despite lower court rulings that Humphrey’s Executor should protect them from arbitrary dismissal.
The justices are currently weighing an emergency appeal from the administration to oust three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Trump fired them in May, but a federal judge restored them to their positions a month later.
The legal fight over the firings also could extend to the Federal Reserve and the prospect of Trump firing Fed chairman Jerome Powell. The justices suggested in May that Trump may not have the same freedom to upend the leadership of the Fed, describing it as “a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”
In her opinion, AliKhan said she was required to abide by the Humphrey’s E