Trump Is Just Doing What SCOTUS Ruled He Can Do

The same liberals that have railed against voter ID are now running with their hair on fire over President Donald Trump’s recent firings at the feckless Election Assistance Commission.

In a short and direct email earlier this month, the White House sacked two Democrats, Thomas Hicks, who was serving as commission chairman, and Benjamin Hovland.

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email advised, according to Reuters.

Christy McCormick, the remaining Republican member on the four-member commission, resigned. She had served on the panel since 2014, when President Barack H. Obama nominated her and the Senate unanimously confirmed her to the post. She has yet to comment on her resignation.

Commissioner Don Palmer, a Trump nominee who was confirmed in 2019, left the commission in April when he was named Senior Legal Fellow for Election Integrity at the Heritage Foundation.

The latest departures leave the EAC without a commissioner or a quorum, although election watchers say the bureaucracy will continue to operate without interruption. That hasn’t stopped the doomsday predictions and allegations of Trump interfering with elections from the same leftists and accomplice media outlets that said nothing — or applauded — when the president’s predecessor put his thumbs on the election administration scale.

‘Presidents Can Remove These Officials’

“After the Supreme Court’s June ruling, it is still unclear whether the EAC would fall under the executive branch’s expanded ability to fire independent regulators,” the liberal-leaning News of the United States (NOTUS), falsely claimed.

There’s nothing unclear at all about the 6-3 ruling in Trump v. Slaughter, which agreed that members of the Federal Trade Commission, as part of the federal branch, serve at the pleasure of the president.

Last year, the White House fired FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat. She quickly sued, citing a 91-year-old Supreme Court decision that found presidents cannot fire members of so-called independent federal commissions without cause. Lower courts blocked Trump’s  executive action, pointing to Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, a 1935 ruling that declared President Franklin D. Roosevelt was wrong in firing a conservative FTC commissioner at the time over policy disagreements.

The high court’s decision in late June put an end to such protections.

“I don’t think it left a whole lot of wiggle room there,” William Messenger, Vice President and Legal Director at the National Right to Work Foundation, said last week in an interview with The Federalist.

The foundation filed a similar lawsuit in 2023, representing a Buffalo Starbucks employee. Ariana Cortes alleged the National Labor Relations Board’s structure violates the separation of powers. Cortes argued that the NLRB had no right to dismiss a petition requesting a vote to end Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) union’s representation of store workers. But at its core the lawsuit challenged the law that blocked presidents from firing NLRB members without cause.

“The court decision found presidents can remove these officials if they want to. It will be very hard for agencies to get around [the ruling],” Messenger said.

That may not stop Trump Derangement Syndrome-afflicted Democrats from trying, anyway.

‘They Are Rank Partisans’

In an interview with PBS last week, Hicks said he was weighing all of his options.

Not an advisable move, said Rachel Bovard, vice president of programs at the Conservative Partnership Institute.

“Yes, he can try to sue, but he’ll be enjoined immediately based on the fact that Humphrey’s Executor is no longer in place,” Bovard told the Federalist in an interview.

The White House issued a statement following the removal of the EAC commissioners, noting that the president, as head of the executive branch, “reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted.”

While the commission does not — and cannot — administer elections, it does assist state and local election officials with guidance and resources. Established through the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 in the wake of the Florida election debacle, the EAC is supposed to provide guidance to help states meet HAVA requirements, adopt voluntary guidelines for voting systems, and certify election equipment. It’s also responsible for maintaining the national mail voter registration form used by the states under the National Voter Registration Act. EAC hands out federal cash to local election offices to assist in meeting HAVA requirements.

Republicans for years have urged doing away with the little agency. Its functions could easily be performed in other areas of government, its critics content. The EAC’s Democrat members in particular have shown themselves to be tools of leftist voting groups that talk about free and fair elections but rail against popular election reforms such as photo ID to vote and proof of U.S, citizenship at registration. Even when the commission has had a quorum, passage of any policy requires a 3 to 1 vote.

Former commission member and election integrity warrior Cleta Mitchell has long pointed out that the Democratic-appointed commissioners have had little interest in pursuing election integrity reforms.

“They’re rank partisans,” Bovard said.

‘He’s Got to Have Confidence’

Election integrity is clearly top of mind for Trump, who on Thursday delivered a national address on the topic and reams of declassified documents exposing a vulnerable election system.

“Why wouldn’t it be in his interest to get this right?” Bovard said of Trump’s pursuit of naming EAC members who share his sense of urgency. “It’s not just a priority for him, it’s a priority for his base. People feeling disenfranchised in some states is a big problem.”

As The Federalist has reported, the EAC isn’t known for moving lithely, even in the most functioning of times. The commission got bogged down last year in trying to complete one of its core responsibilities: updating the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines.

A committee charged with making a recommendation on the guidelines got waylaid by the National Association of State Election Directors, an ostensibly nonpartisan group routinely influenced by liberal election policy advocates. Microsoft has been a “Gold Level” affiliate member of the association. An organization known as VotingWorks was a Silver Level member. Dominion Voting Systems was a “Bronze.”

They were opposed to doing much of anything that would advance Trump’s executive order on election integrity.

In his national address, Trump discussed Communist China’s infiltration of the U.S. election system and influence on the rigged 2020 presidential elections. He pointed to declassified documents that show China grabbed some 220 million U.S. voter files filled with sensitive information.

A Reuters report published Sunday claims new documents show the Trump administration spent more than a year “scrutinizing” the EAC, raising concerns about the commission’s handling of the 2020 election, particularly its ability to secure voting systems.

Given EAC’s track record of gridlock and its reputation for “institutional weaknesses”, the commission’s past of “willful disregard of the threats facing our elections”, scrutinizing its operations is understandable.

“[Trump] has the ability to appoint commissioners who care about election integrity,” Bovard said. “He’s got to have confidence in the people overseeing our elections, that they are not rank partisans but committed to the carriage of their duty.”

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.