The Supreme Court ruled that Trump can fire the FTC commissioners in a 6-3 decision

The Supreme Court may have done more Monday than give President Donald Trump new firing powers — it may have opened the door to the most comprehensive challenge to today’s administration, a growing network of federal agencies that many conservatives have long called “the deep state.”

In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that Trump can legally remove Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, overturning nearly 90 percent of Humphrey’s Executor’s ruling that had protected federal agency officials from firing.

Although the majority of Chief Justice John Roberts said that the leaders of the FTC must always be accountable to the president because the agency uses executive power, Gorsuch said that this decision raises a broader question about the constitution of whether Congress can continue to allow the executive agencies to use extensive legislative and judicial powers.

“The power of the fourth branch is still there; it has just been transferred to the President,” Gorsuch wrote in a similar opinion.

SCOTUS TAKES TRUMP’S BID TO FIRE FTC COMMISSIONER OVER HOUSING – A DEMONSTRATION THAT COULD CONTINUE FOR 90 YEARS.

That comment could be the next big factor in the Supreme Court’s ongoing effort to reform the modern administration.

For decades, independent agencies such as the FTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Labor Relations Board have consolidated many government functions under one roof. They investigate alleged violations, draft regulations that carry the force of law and adjudicate enforcement actions through administrative proceedings.

With Humphrey’s Executor now superseded, those organizations remain intact, but their leadership is under the control of the president if he exercises executive power. Gorsuch questioned whether Congress would continue to delegate broad legislative and judicial powers to agencies now under the president’s control.

“The power to write new regulatory cases remains,” Gorsuch wrote. “The ability to judge domestic disputes is still there, but now the house is white.”

Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, said Gorsuch’s concurrence points to the next phase of the trial.

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President Donald Trump speaks during the Rose Garden Club dinner at the White House in Washington, DC, June 25, 2026. He hosted US farmers from Iowa in the newly renovated Rose Garden. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

“I think the next step in these types of cases is not going to look at individual shootings, but really trying to make sure that all of these administrative agencies fall into one of our constitutional buckets,” Severino said. “Are they executive bodies or law makers or judges? You can’t confuse all of this.”

He said that while Monday’s decision restores presidential control to executive agencies, it does not resolve whether those agencies can continue to exercise the same legislative and judicial powers that Congress has granted them for decades.

“There still needs to be a lot of work to go back and remove these agencies that are now under the control of the officials and illegal things,” said Severino.

Haley Proctor, a constitutional law professor at Notre Dame Law School, similarly described Gorsuch’s opinion as a guide for future legal challenges.

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“I think what Justice Gorsuch is saying is that this is the first step in rethinking the way the executive state is empowered and structured,” Proctor said.

Instead of simply expanding the president’s authority, Proctor said the consensus raises the possibility that Congress could finally get the powers it has given to agencies or give some responsibilities back to the Title III courts.

“If we are concerned about the amount of power the Federal Trade Commission has, the next step would be to reconsider giving that power to the Federal Trade Commission because some of the decisions it takes can be taken by Congress instead and some of the decisions it takes can be taken by the courts,” he said.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch speaks at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif. (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews/Orange County Register)

The majority opinion did not resolve those questions. Instead, Roberts limited the Court’s holding to the president’s removal authority, concluding that the FTC “undoubtedly exercises executive power” and therefore its commissioners must remain accountable to the president.

The Court stopped short of deciding how much power Congress can give executive agencies to make laws or settle disputes, saying questions involving agencies like the Federal Reserve will have to wait.

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But Gorsuch suggested future cases could go further, saying the Constitution provides the tools to dismantle much of the modern executive branch. He outlined several constitutional doctrines that could be used to significantly limit the power of federal agencies and return lawmaking authority to Congress and judicial power to the courts.

“From here, the only sure way is to end the journey we’re starting today and put legislative and judicial power back where it belongs: in Congress and the courts,” Gorsuch wrote.