Appeals court blocks Trump from firing FTC commissioner in case testing president's removal powers

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., allowed a Biden-appointed member of the Federal Trade Commission to keep her job, at least for now, as part of a lawsuit centered on President Donald Trump’s authority to remove members of independent agencies without cause.

A three-judge panel said in a 2-1 order on Tuesday that a lower court’s decision that Trump unlawfully fired FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter could remain in place and that her firing was squarely at odds with Supreme Court precedent.

"The government has no likelihood of success on appeal given controlling and directly on point Supreme Court precedent," the panel wrote, adding that "bucking such precedent is not within this court's job description."

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Slaughter was abruptly fired after Trump took office, rehired when Judge Loren AliKhan ruled in her favor in July, and then re-fired days later when the appellate court briefly paused AliKhan’s decision.

The three-judge panel, comprising two Obama appointees and one Trump appointee, lifted that pause on Tuesday, which means Slaughter can now return to work.

The Trump administration could now seek relief from the full appellate court bench or the Supreme Court. A Department of Justice spokesperson told Fox News Digital the government plans to appeal Tuesday's order.

The Trump appointee on the panel, Judge Neomi Rao dissented, saying the "balance of equities here is ultimately indistinguishable" from other cases where the Supreme Court has temporarily greenlit Trump's firings.

DOJ attorneys had argued for the appellate court to grant the Trump administration a stay and keep Slaughter's firing in place, pointing to the Supreme Court’s decisions to do the same in recent separate cases involving other independent agencies, including two labor boards.

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"The court’s reinstatement of a principal officer of the United States—in defiance of recent Supreme Court precedent staying similar reinstatements in other cases—works a grave harm to the separation of powers and the President’s ability to exercise his authority under the Constitution," the attorneys wrote.

The firings all relate to a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. United States, which found that President Franklin D. Roosevelt's firing of an FTC commissioner was illegal. Firing commissioners without cause, such as malfeasance, before their seven-year tenures were up was a violation of the FTC Act, the high court found.

While the Supreme Court has let Trump's firings at other independent agencies proceed temporarily while the lawsuits play out in the lower courts, Slaughter's case would present the most blatant question yet to the justices about whether they plan to overturn Humphrey's Executor. Legal scholars have speculated that the current conservative-leaning Supreme Court has an appetite to reverse or narrow that decision.

Trump initially fired both Democrat-appointed members of the five-member FTC at will. Slaughter has vowed to see her lawsuit through to its conclusion, while the other ousted member, Alvaro Bedoya, has since resigned.

Slaughter said she plans to be back to work on Wednesday.

"Amid the efforts by the Trump admin to illegally abolish independent agencies, incl the Federal Reserve, I'm glad the court has recognized that he is not above the law," Slaughter wrote on social media. "I’m eager to get back first thing tomorrow to the work I was entrusted to do on behalf of the American people."

Trump also recently fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations, a move Cook is now challenging in court. That case presents its own unique set of challenges, in part because the Supreme Court said this year that the Federal Reserve was more insulated than other independent agencies.