On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Trump v. Slaughter, where the six-Justice majority held that appointed agency officials who wield executive power are subject to presidential removal. In so holding, the Court overruled its 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935), which for nearly a century stood for the principle that Congress can create independent agencies whose leaders can only be removed for cause.