• Supreme Court allows Trump to temporarily fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter.
• The order pauses lower court rulings mandating her reinstatement.
• Slaughter argues her removal violates federal law protecting commissioners.
• The Justice Department claims the president has broad authority over agency appointments.
• This case could challenge decades-old precedent on presidential removal powers.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted President Donald Trump the ability to keep Democratic member Rebecca Slaughter away from her position at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the time being. This administrative stay pauses a judicial order that required her reinstatement, allowing the Court additional time to contemplate Trump's appeal regarding her removal from the consumer protection agency tasked with enforcing antitrust laws, according to Reuters and CBS News.

Chief Justice John Roberts issued the temporary stay as the case against Trump's firing, rooted in claims of legality and precedent, continues to unfold. The Justice Department maintains that the president can remove FTC commissioners at will, disregarding traditional removal limitations that only allow dismissals for misconduct or neglect, according to The Hill and Newsweek.

Slaughter's legal team asserts that her removal contradicts the Federal Trade Commission Act, which was intended to provide specific protections for commissioners. She has indicated her commitment to battling the case to ensure autonomy for independent agencies. The dispute reopens discussions around a 90-year-old Supreme Court decision which generally barred presidents from terminating independent agency members without cause, as outlined in Los Angeles Times and Al Jazeera.

This decision represents a continuation of the Supreme Court's pattern of permitting President Trump to remove appointees from independent boards amid legal challenges, suggesting that the court's conservative majority may be inclined towards revisiting long-standing precedents regarding presidential authority, as reported by CBS News, The Hill, and Los Angeles Times.