Can Trump fire Jerome Powell? The Supreme Court may soon offer some clues
President Donald Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s call for the 바카라 게임 웹사이트termination바카라 게임 웹사이트 of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell landed Thursday as the Supreme Court is weighing a fast-moving appeal over two independent agencies that has increasingly become a proxy battle for control of the nation바카라 게임 웹사이트s powerful central bank.
A decision in the emergency appeal could enable Trump to assert control over independent agencies as he tries to subsume their power within the executive branch 바카라 게임 웹사이트 or it could significantly slow that effort.
At issue for the Supreme Court is Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s firing of senior officials at two independent agencies that oversee workplace protections for federal employees. Those officials, who are fighting to be reinstated, say that if Trump wins in the labor boards case, it will swing open the door for an overhaul of the Federal Reserve.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete 바카라 게임 웹사이트mess!바카라 게임 웹사이트 . 바카라 게임 웹사이트Powell바카라 게임 웹사이트s termination cannot come fast enough!바카라 게임 웹사이트
The Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s administration바카라 게임 웹사이트s underlying goal, it made clear in a letter to Congress earlier this year, is to overturn a 1935 precedent that that allowed Congress to require presidents to show cause 바카라 게임 웹사이트 such as malfeasance 바카라 게임 웹사이트 before dismissing board members overseeing independent agencies. Such a decision could have vast implications for a host of agencies Congress set up to be independent from the political whims of the White House.
But Trump has argued that neither courts nor Congress should stand in the way of his efforts to capture more control of those agencies by firing their leaders.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The president should not be forced to delegate his executive power to agency heads who are demonstrably at odds with the administration바카라 게임 웹사이트s policy objectives for a single day 바카라 게임 웹사이트 much less for the months that it would likely take for the courts to resolve this litigation,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Solicitor General D. John Sauer, the Trump administration바카라 게임 웹사이트s top appellate lawyer, told the Supreme Court earlier this month.
A fight over footnotes
The litigation over the two labor agencies will likely ultimately tee up a question about a key 1935 Supreme Court precedent, Humphrey바카라 게임 웹사이트s Executor v. U.S., that allows Congress to put some distance between the White House and the independent agencies.
Overturning that ruling would give presidents immense power to sweep away from service officials who enforce anti-trust laws, labor rules and disclosure requirements for publicly traded companies.
The Supreme Court바카라 게임 웹사이트s conservative majority has signaled skepticism in recent years about the for-cause protections Congress sometimes includes for executive branch officials.
Four years ago, the court바카라 게임 웹사이트s conservatives held that such protections for the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau violated separation of powers principles. That agency, which Trump has continued to target in his second term, oversees regulations intended to protect consumers who hold credit card debt, mortgages and financial products. The president바카라 게임 웹사이트s power to 바카라 게임 웹사이트remove 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and thus supervise 바카라 게임 웹사이트 those who wield executive power바카라 게임 웹사이트 flows directly from the Constitution, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The CFPB director has no boss, peers, or voters to report to,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Roberts wrote. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Yet the director wields vast rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudicatory authority over a significant portion of the US economy.바카라 게임 웹사이트
But the court바카라 게임 웹사이트s 5-4 decision left Humphrey바카라 게임 웹사이트s in place, with Roberts noting that it applied only to independent agencies led by a single director rather than multi-member boards. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, would have gone further. They framed the precedent as a 바카라 게임 웹사이트direct threat to our constitutional structure and, as a result, the liberty of the American people.바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트In a future case,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Thomas wrote, 바카라 게임 웹사이트I would repudiate what is left of this erroneous precedent.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Perhaps most notably, the court used a footnote in that decision to nod at the idea that the CFPB might be different from the Federal Reserve.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The CFPB is in an entirely different league바카라 게임 웹사이트 from the Federal Reserve, that footnote read. 바카라 게임 웹사이트It acts as a mini legislature, prosecutor, and court.바카라 게임 웹사이트
In another footnote last year, conservative Justice Samuel Alito sought to further explain why the Federal Reserve is unlike other federal agencies.
The Fed board, Alito wrote, 바카라 게임 웹사이트is a unique institution with a unique historical background.바카라 게임 웹사이트 The Fed was created in response to a 바카라 게임 웹사이트string of financial panics바카라 게임 웹사이트 and represented an 바카라 게임 웹사이트intensely-bargained compromise between two insistent and influential camps: those who wanted a largely private system, and those who favored a Government-controlled national bank.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The funding of the central bank, he said, 바카라 게임 웹사이트should be regarded as a special arrangement sanctioned by history.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Trump takes softer stance in court
That is an argument the Trump administration has leaned into heavily to brush aside concerns that a ruling for Trump in the labor cases would give him free rein over the Fed.
바카라 게임 웹사이트While respondents focus heavily on other agencies such as the Federal Reserve Board, they ignore [the court바카라 게임 웹사이트s recent] observation that the Federal Reserve바카라 게임 웹사이트s tenure protection presents a distinct question with a unique historical pedigree,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Sauer told the Supreme Court in a brief this week.
The administration, in other words, is balking at the idea that the president would necessarily go after the Fed if he wins in the fight over the labor boards.
Presidents of both parties have long taken a hands-off approach to the central bank and federal law demands the system바카라 게임 웹사이트s seven governors can be fired only for cause, not policy disagreements. Weakening the Fed바카라 게임 웹사이트s independence would not only rattle investors who are already anxious about Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s tariffs, but it could destroy the central bank바카라 게임 웹사이트s credibility, which it needs to fight inflation. That바카라 게임 웹사이트s as important as ever, with economists expecting tariffs to lead to higher prices. Countries with independent central banks generally have lower inflation.
The emergency appeals pending at the Supreme Court 바카라 게임 웹사이트 while exceedingly important in their own right 바카라 게임 웹사이트 deal with two boards that most Americans rarely encounter, the NLRB and the Merit Systems Protection Board. By raising the specter that Trump could use a decision in that case to impose wholesale changes to the Federal Reserve, the board members are elevating the stakes for the 6-3 conservative court.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Of particular concern, the independence of the Federal Reserve would become uncertain 바카라 게임 웹사이트 a situation that would have dire repercussions for the market,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Gwynne Wilcox, who had been serving as chair of the National Labor Relations Board, this week.
Likely sensing the court바카라 게임 웹사이트s reticence to mess with the Federal Reserve 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and potentially be blamed economic catastrophe 바카라 게임 웹사이트 Trump officials have eagerly insisted there is no connection between the NLRB and the Fed.
바카라 게임 웹사이트That question,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the Department of Justice told the court in a brief on Wednesday, 바카라 게임 웹사이트is not at issue here.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Just how much leeway a majority of the court is willing to give Trump 바카라 게임 웹사이트 especially given the administration바카라 게임 웹사이트s aggressive reading of the court바카라 게임 웹사이트s opaque decision in a recent immigration case 바카라 게임 웹사이트 remains to be seen.
The court isn바카라 게임 웹사이트t considering the underlying merits of the case, only what to do with Wilcox and Cathy Harris, the former chairwoman of the MSPB, while their legal cases continue. In a temporary order earlier this month, Chief Justice John Roberts allowed Trump to keep both Harris and Wilcox removed from their posts for now.
The high court could rule in the case of the labor boards at any time.
Powell was first appointed Fed chair by Trump in 2018, then was later reappointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022. Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s gripes with Powell, going as far back as 2018, have mostly been centered on the Fed not cutting interest rates whenever the president sees fit.
In recent years, Trump has called Powell 바카라 게임 웹사이트the enemy바카라 게임 웹사이트 and accused him of 바카라 게임 웹사이트playing politics.바카라 게임 웹사이트 On Thursday, Trump said 바카라 게임 웹사이트Powell바카라 게임 웹사이트s termination cannot come fast enough!바카라 게임 웹사이트
But the Fed바카라 게임 웹사이트s decisions, with Powell at the helm, have always been based on economic data in striving for the central bank바카라 게임 웹사이트s dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices 바카라 게임 웹사이트 even if those decisions don바카라 게임 웹사이트t sit well with politicians. That sacrosanct independence has proven to be crucial for the Fed to successfully fight inflation and unemployment whenever necessary.
CNN바카라 게임 웹사이트s Bryan Mena contributed to this report.