oversight

After Trump v. Slaughter: The Election Commission Is Empty, the SEC and FTC Are All-Republican, and Lisa Cook Faces a For-Cause Hearing

On 29 June 2026 the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in Trump v. Slaughter that the President can remove members of the Federal Trade Commission at will. It overruled Humphrey’s Executor, the 1935 case that let Congress protect commissioners of independent agencies from removal except for cause.

Three months later, several agencies that Congress designed to be bipartisan have no members from one party, or none at all. The Election Assistance Commission has had no commissioners since 9 July, when the White House fired its two Democrats and its Republican resigned. A White House official said “the Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so.”

Who’s left

  • The FTC has two commissioners, both Republican, since its Democrats were fired in March 2025 and a Republican left in November.
  • The SEC has three Republicans and two empty Democratic seats since January 2026.
  • The Merit Systems Protection Board, which hears federal employee appeals, has two members, both Republican.
  • The National Labor Relations Board has a 3 to 1 Republican majority after confirmations in August.
  • The Consumer Product Safety Commission regained a quorum in August after the President removed its three Democrats in 2025.
  • The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was back to five members, three Republican, at the start of 2026, after a Democrat was fired in 2025.

Many of these agencies’ laws say no more than a bare majority may come from one party. They don’t require the President to fill the other seats.

What the ruling left open

According to the Congressional Research Service, the Court didn’t decide whether the President can directly remove lower-level officials, or members of courts outside the judiciary such as the Tax Court. Election law scholar Rick Hasen has noted it’s also unclear whether the ruling covers the EAC and the Federal Election Commission, which administer elections and don’t enforce policy in the usual way.

CRS lists options for Congress. It likely can’t give for-cause protection back to commissioners who exercise executive power. It can take back powers it delegated, restructure agencies, use the Senate’s confirmation power, or set quorum and voting rules.

The Fed

The Federal Reserve is the exception the Court has fenced off. On the same day as Slaughter, it ruled 5 to 4 in Trump v. Cook that Governor Lisa Cook could stay on the Fed board while her case continues, because the President hadn’t given her the procedure the law requires before removal for cause.

The White House is now providing one. On 9 October the President named a three-person committee, Kevin Hassett, EEOC chair Andrea Lucas and acting ethics director Keith Sonderling, to review the allegations against Cook. A closed hearing is set for 5 November. Her lawyers have “grave doubts” about its legitimacy. The outcome tests what “for cause” means for the one agency the Court treated as different, as the Fed raises rates under its new chair, covered in our economy post.

Why it matters

Bipartisan commissions were meant to keep rules stable across administrations and to give the minority party a seat where enforcement decisions are made. Without minority members, dissents disappear, and so does an early warning to Congress about what an agency is doing. Without members at all, as at the EAC weeks before the midterms, an agency can’t act. The EAC can’t change the federal voter registration form or certify voting systems until the Senate confirms at least three commissioners.