The Supreme Court will consider expanding the president's power to dismiss officials from independent agencies

The US Supreme Court signalled on Monday that it would consider expanding the president's power to shape independent agencies by overturning nearly a century-old legal precedent. The court agreed to hear the case of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission who was fired by Mr. Trump and reinstated by a lower court in a 90-year-old decision known as the Humphrey Executor case. At the time, the court unanimously ruled that commissioners who are independent regulators can only be removed from office for misconduct or malfeasance. Gwen Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board and Kathy Harris of the Federal Civil Service Protection Board also asked that if the Supreme Court accepts Slaughter's case, their cases be heard together. The Supreme Court has allowed the president to temporarily dismiss the three commissioners, but has also hinted that the power of dismissal may be limited at the Federal Reserve, a point expected to be tested by the firing of former Fed governor Tim Cook.