People, I kept scratching my head trying to reason why the conservative majority of the US Supreme Court has handed down so many rulings in favor of Trump. A while back an attorney friend of mine mentioned  there is a ‘unitary executive theory' that is strongly supported by Chief Justice Roberts. I didn’t pay much mind to it until it recently  popped up in my memory. I was curious. It all became clear to me after doing the research on it.

This theory is a constitutional interpretation stating that article 2 of the constitution vests all executive power in the president, granting him absolute control over the entire executive branch. This means the president has the ultimate authority to direct, appoint and remove virtually all executive branch officials, including those at nominally independent agencies at will, without just cause. Come to find out all 6 conservative justices of the Supreme Court, namely Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Barrett and Kavanaugh, are proponents of the 'unitary executive theory' as it applies to article 2. It is now crystal clear why their rulings have expanded presidential power. The liberal justices, namely Kagan, Jackson and Sotomayor, are strongly opposed to this theory, arguing it threatens long-standing expertise-based independence of administrative bodies. 

This leads me to the recent case, Trump v Slaughter, in which Trump invoked his powers under article 2 of the constitution to fire her. He said her continued service was “inconsistent" with the “administration’s priorities." Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, sued on the grounds that Congress by statute, said  a commissioner of an independent agency could only be fired “for cause," namely for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. 

In a 6-3 decision, the conservative Supreme Court justices, clinging to the ‘unitary executive theory,' with its broad interpretation of the constitution’s article 2, ruled in favor of Trump giving him the authority to fire Commissioner Slaughter at will. This ruling overturns 91 years of precedent dating back to a 1935 SCOTUS case when President FDR tried to fire William Humphrey, a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. In a 9-0 decision, the court ruled that FDR did not have the authority to fire him at will.  By Congressional statute there must be “cause" for dismissal. People, the Slaughter decision nullifies this statute. The decision noticeably tips the separation of powers scale in favor of the executive branch.

With the court’s Slaughter decision, agency independence insulated from partisan politics is gone; agency independent appointments based on expertise, can now be based on political ideology; politics can override performance. This decision has far-reaching implications. Since the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission in 1935, just think of the dozens and dozens of federal agencies established by Congress with the “cause" proviso in the legislation! This decision changes the rules of government administration.

In my research I found that overturning the 1935 Humphrey decision was included in project 2025, the governance blueprint, drawn up by the ultra conservative think tank, Heritage Foundation, for Trump’s second term. Whether intentional or not, it appears those 6 justices, who ruled in Trump’s favor, are aiding and abetting his efforts to flesh out the rest of his authoritarian ‘project 2025' MAGA agenda. Footnote: People, remember back on July 1, 2024 in the case Trump vs. US when the Supreme Court’s conservative majority in a 6-3 decision handed down a ruling that gave Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution, a decision that made Trump a king as described by Associate Justice Jackson, in her dissent. Well those same 6 conservative justices have certified his kingship with the Slaughter ruling.