The Supreme Court is hearing arguments over President Trump's attempt to fire Rebecca Kelly, a member of the Federal Trade Commission. CBS News contributor Jessica Levinson explains.

Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case regarding President Trump's dismissal of former Federal Trade Commission head Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Lower courts previously ruled that the president did not have the authority to remove her, but the Supreme Court has temporarily upheld the firing while it reviews the matter.

The case centers on whether the president can remove agency officials at will or only for cause, as Congress has intended for independent agencies like the FTC. The outcome could significantly affect the president's power over federal agencies, potentially overturning longstanding precedent and impacting future administrations.

Supreme Court hearing arguments over Trump's move to fire FTC member

Supreme Court, folks, where justices are hearing a case today that could determine how much power the president has over traditionally independent federal agencies. The case is over the firing of former Federal Trade Commission head Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. President Trump dismissed her in March, but lower courts ruled he did not have the power to remove her. The Supreme Court temporarily upheld the firing while it considers the case. The message is, do exactly what I want, or you're going to lose your jobs. And that is really, really in violation of the fundamental principle that the law should be administered without fear or favor. And specifically, that means without fear of getting fired for failure to do a favor for the president's friends and allies. All right, CBS News legal contributor and Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson joins me now to talk about this. Jessica, it's good to see you on this Monday. So a breakdown for our viewers. What are both sides arguing here? So the president is arguing that he's the head of the executive branch, and he gets to hire and fire people who work in the executive branch. This is a version of something called the unitary executive theory. Basically, he's on the top of that pyramid that is the executive branch, and he gets to make decisions almost with unfettered discretion. Then the other side, Slaughter, is arguing that Congress has said that Congress wants the FTC and many other agencies to have at least some independence. And that means the president can only remove people at will—excuse me, for cause, not at will. And that's really what the court is going to look at, whether or not Congress can essentially throw a hurdle up and say, Mr. President, you can't remove somebody just because you want to. You have to find a reason to remove them. So it's so interesting to me, Jessica, that in this ruling, the Supreme Court may actually transfer a vast power to the president of the United States. And what I find surprising about that is most of these conservative justices say that they are constitutionalists, that they look at the text of the Constitution, and that's how they think about the cases that come before the court. But the Constitution—and I'm not a lawyer, you are, as far as I understand—doesn't explicitly grant the president any such authority. And I guess over like 100 years ago, I thought the court unanimously agreed and rejected an argument that the president possessed it. Am I wrong on that? You're exactly right. As always, you don't need to qualify with I'm not a lawyer. You're citing to Humphrey's executor, which is the precedent at issue here. I love this question, and I love the question because, as you point out, the conservatives on the court are originalists, meaning they focus on the text of the Constitution and what it means at the time that it was written. And I think they would say not that we are transferring power to the executive, but that we're righting a wrong, that we previously gave Congress this power. We incorrectly took it away from a president, whereas when you look at the language of the Constitution and you look at the grant of authority to, of course, we should remind everybody not just this president, any president, it envisions the idea that the president gets to constitute the executive branch. Really, really interesting. Jessica, I certainly hope we'll have you back when the justices render that decision. Jessica Levinson, always great to have you, my friend. Thank you very much.

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