Supreme Court hands Trump key win in abrupt shadow docket decision

The right flank of the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to fire independent agency heads at a pair of key government institutions intended to be shielded from executive interference in an order released on Thursday.

The 6-3 move, with all liberal justices dissenting, constitutes yet another controversial use of the so-called "shadow docket," or decisions issued on an emergency basis without hearing the merits of the case or making any real review of the matter.

Trump had sought to fire a member of the National Labor Relations Board and a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, an agency that ensures federal employment decisions are not influenced by politics.

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The administration was sued over these moves, with plaintiffs alleging the dismissals would violate Humphrey's Executor v. United States, a landmark 1935 ruling that allows Congress to put limits on the president's ability to fire the heads of independent, multi-member agencies.

The Supreme Court emphasized in its shadow docket ruling that it was not overturning that ruling, and that litigation over the president's right to fire members of these agencies would continue.