WASHINGTON (TNND) — A federal appeals court blocked President Trump from firing Rebecca Slaughter in a 2-1 decision on Tuesday. Slaughter, appointed under former President Biden, was fired by Trump in March with no clear reasoning.
The appeals court restored a ruling by a lower court that found in July that firing Slaughter was illegal. The court found that Slaughter was entitled to continue at the FCC as federal law says that commissioners can only be removed for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
“The government is not likely to succeed on appeal because any ruling in its favor from this court would have to defy binding, on-point, and repeatedly preserved Supreme Court precedent,” the appeals court’s majority order said.
While Trump was stopped by a district court, the Trump administration could still appeal this case to the Supreme Court.
A White House official said that the Supreme Court had previously upheld Trump’s “authority to fire and remove executive officers who exercise his authority,” ahead of appealing the July case.
“Amid the efforts by the Trump administration to illegally abolish independent agencies, including the Federal Reserve, I’m heartened the court has recognized that he is not above the law,” Slaughter said in an emailed statement.
“I’m very eager to get back first thing tomorrow to the work I was entrusted to do on behalf of the American people,” Slaughter continued.
Slaughter’s case is part of Trump’s war on the Federal Reserve, after he attempted to oust Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. Trump has been pressuring the Fed for months to lower interest rates, going as far as to threaten to fire Cook and Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates.
Trump’s threats have caused many issues for the central bank’s independence.
Previously, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump may “likely” have the power to fire independent agency heads in a court case involving members from the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board.
Cook’s ousting was Trump’s first test to see the limits of his politically motivated threats to fire officials on independent boards like the central bank.
While the majority ruled that Trump has wide authority over executive agencies, it rejected that the same authority could be applied to fire members of the Fed.
“We disagree. The Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States,” the unsigned order says.
However, Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissenting opinion questioning the majority.
Kagan said the Fed’s independence is on the same “constitutional and analytic foundations” as other agencies, including the NSRB and MSPB. Kagan continued on, calling the majority’s order a “puzzle.”