Donald Trump's contention that he can legally fire anyone employed by the federal government despite a 90-year Supreme Court ruling could be validated by the current conservative majority on the court which would be "disastrous" according to one court watcher.
According to a report from NPR, a collection of lawsuits appear to be headed to the nation's highest court that will allow then to reconsider the landmark Humphrey's Executor v. United States ruling that denied President Franklin D. Roosevelt the power to "fire members of independent boards or commission" unless it was for "cause, such as inefficiency, malfeasance or neglect of duty."
As NPR's Andrea Hsu is reporting, "the court's current conservative supermajority has been chipping away at that precedent, so the Trump administration could prevail if this gets to the Supreme Court."
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The report notes that Trump's acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris has already been paving the way for just such a claim in a letter to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) where she asserted, "To the extent that Humphrey's Executor requires otherwise, the Department intends to urge the Supreme Court to overrule that [CFPB] decision, which prevents the President from adequately supervising principal officers in the Executive Branch who execute the laws on the President's behalf."
According to Jared Davidson, counsel for legal advocacy group Protect Democracy, "These agencies need to be able to operate with a level of independence so that they can do the work for the American people and not be puppet masters," before adding "It would be absolutely disastrous for the American people if the court decides to give the president carte blanche to ignore the clear mandate of Congress and turn these independent agencies into essentially groups of political cronies."
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