December 11, 2025
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court took up the question whether independent agencies, as they have been known for the last ninety years, can continue to exist. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court heard arguments about whether Congress can constitutionally design an agency to be insulated from direct presidential control by restricting the president’s ability to remove agency leaders, or whether that structure undermines the separation of powers by encroaching on the president’s executive authority. Even prior to Monday’s arguments the Court had already sent a strong signal where it intends to go, finding preliminarily in a prior proceeding that the Trump administration was “likely to succeed” in its claim that the president has the authority to fire independent agency heads. The conservative majority’s questioning at oral argument only confirmed this likely outcome.
The case has huge ramifications for “watchdog” independent agencies across the government. The likely outcome will be particularly devastating for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the independent agency charged with safeguarding workers’ right to form and join a union and act collectively in the workplace. The loss of independence and the intrusion of political favoritism into its day-to-day operations would compromise the agency’s basic functioning, and put workers’ rights in jeopardy.
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