Trump asks SCOTUS to halt reinstatement of FTC commissioner Slaughter

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow President Donald Trump to dismiss Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, seeking an emergency halt to a federal appeals court order that reinstated her and asking the justices to hear the full case immediately. The move marks the latest high-profile challenge over presidential removal authority and could set up a confrontation over a nearly 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent that limits the president's ability to remove officials at independent agencies.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the court to stay a Tuesday ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that ordered Slaughter reinstated while the appeal proceeds. Sauer argued the FTC and similar agencies are subject to presidential control and that the president should be able to remove commissioners without cause. He wrote that lower courts have repeatedly restored removed officers "wielding substantial executive authority" despite this administration's recent emergency victories and urged the high court to take the case now rather than wait for the usual appeals process.

Lower courts have said the law establishing...