The Supreme Court will convene in Washington, D.C., on July 29, 2024. In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, President Joe Biden laid out his proposed changes to the Supreme Court, including 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices and the development of new rules ahead of a speech tonight at the Lyndon B Building. of court ethics.
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this United States Supreme Court Declined Monday to hear a conservative challenge to job protections for leaders of federal consumer product safety regulators, in a case that would have given the justices a chance to reassess a 1935 precedent that limits presidents from firing certain agency heads.
The judge dismissed an appeal by plaintiffs, led by conservative group Consumer Research, of a lower court upholding a ruling involving consumer protection. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissionan independent agency within the executive branch of the federal government.
The federal law that established the agency in 1972 stipulates that the agency’s five commissioners can be removed only for “neglect or dereliction of duty,” rather than on the whim of the president, as lawmakers seek to insulate the agency from presidential control. The plaintiffs sued the agency, arguing that the law violated the U.S. Constitution’s principle of separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.
The lawsuit was filed after the agency denied information requests under the Freedom of Information Act from the consumer research group and the second plaintiff in the case, a Texas company called By Two.
lawyer for democratic president Joe BidenThe government urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeal, saying the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to sue the agency and that Supreme Court precedent had struck down their claims.
Texas U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle, appointed by Republican former president Donald TrumpIn 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that these job protections violated Article II of the Constitution, which states that “the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States of America.”
On appeal, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned Knodel’s ruling. The Fifth Circuit upheld the legal protections provided to consumer protection agency commissioners by the Supreme Court in 1935 in Humphrey Executive v. United States.
In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the president did not have unfettered power to remove FTC commissioners and blamed then-President Franklin Roosevelt for firing FTC commissioners over policy differences.
The current Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has taken a broad view of presidential power in recent years and expressed skepticism about the president’s broad powers. federal agencies. The case gives conservative justices an opportunity to rein in or disengage Humphrey’s executors.
The challenge launched by Consumer Research has the support of 11 Republican U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz Rep. Darrell Issa, along with 16 state Republican attorneys general and various conservative and libertarian groups.
On its website, Consumer Research asks people to report “woke” behavior by companies, saying: “Many companies put progressive activists and their dangerous agendas ahead of their customers.” It also objects to ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Investment Principles This places a strong emphasis on the environment and issues as well as corporate governance.
