Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a landmark decision overruling a 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent and significantly expanding presidential power to remove members of independent agencies. In Trump v. Slaughter, No. 25-332, the Supreme Court held that the “for-cause” removal protections applicable to commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are unconstitutional and inconsistent with the separation of powers doctrine. Although the Supreme Court’s decision concerned FTC commissioners, its reasoning is likely to have broader consequences for other multimember agencies whose leaders have traditionally been protected from at-will removal. For employers, the most immediate implications may be at agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), where changes in leadership could now occur more quickly and bring faster shifts in enforcement priorities, regulatory policy, and litigation risk.