Supreme Court

Can the President Fire Anyone He Wants? Yes, Unless the Target Is Part of the Federal Reserve.

In a pair of decisions on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have full authority to fire heads of executive branch agencies—but that the Fed is different.

Eric Boehm | 6.29.2026 12:20 PM

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(Adani Samat/Yuri Gripas - Pool via CNP / MEGA / Newscom/RSSIL/Newscom)

President Donald Trump has the power to fire members of the Federal Trade Commission but cannot give the boot to members of the Federal Reserve. So said the Supreme Court on Monday, in a pair of related decisions about the scope of executive power.

The court ruled 6–3 in favor of the president in Trump v. Slaughter, which challenged his decision to fire Rebecca Slaughter from her position as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). But in Trump v. Cook, the court sided with Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve's board of governors he had sought to fire. The decision in that case was 5–4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joining the three liberal justices to form a somewhat unusual majority.

With the two........

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