After Trump v. Slaughter, Will There Be Independent Agencies Other than the Fed: The Case of the Federal Election Agencies

As the Supreme Court’s Monday argument approaches in Trump v. Slaughter on the unitary executive branch theory and independent agencies, two outcomes already seem foreordained. The Court is likely to overrule Humphrey’s Executor and hold that the President must have the power to remove at will the commissioners of the FTC. As Justice Kagan wrote, dissenting from the Court’s stay decision on the emergency docket in Trump v. Boyle, the Court has already “all but overturned” Humphrey’s Executor. Second, the Court has also strongly signaled that it will not overturn the independence of the Federal Reserve, which the Court recently characterized as “a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United S