What to know about Humphrey's Executor, a case key to Trump's plans

What is Humphrey's Executor?

Zoom out: In 1935, the Supreme Court ruled that the president could only dismiss the head of an independent agency "for cause."

• The precedent strengthened independent federal agencies by insulating their commissioners from political retribution.
• Legal scholars, and the justices of the Supreme Court, have long been deeply divided on the constitutionality of Humphrey's Executor, and to which agencies it applies.
• In 2020, the Court ruled that the president had the power to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• At the time, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch said that they would have overturned Humphrey's Executor entirely, arguing that it unconstitutionally infringed the power of the president.

Do the FTC firings violate Humphrey's Executor?

Zoom in: In a copy of FTC commissioner Alvaro Bedoya's firing email, seen by Axios, Trent Morse, a deputy director of presidential personnel, argued that the firings do not qualify as illegal under Humphrey's Executor because the FTC has "exercised substantial executive power."

The other side: Both of the commissioners called their firings illegal.

• Rebecca Slaughter, the other commissioner, said in an emailed statement that her firing violates "the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent."

The intrigue: Trump's Justice Department signaled that it wanted to overturn Humphrey's Executor last month, with the full support of Trump's new FTC chair.

What's next: The National Labor Relations Board is another independent agency currently in Trump's crosshairs.

• A Justice Department attorney on Tuesday asked an appeals court to suspend a judge's orders reinstating an NLRB board member who Trump fired in January.
• The three-judge panel didn't immediately make a ruling.