{"id":2625394,"date":"2026-07-06T07:42:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-roberts-again-undermines-scotus-legitimacy-with-irreconcilable-slaughter-and-cook-opinions\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T07:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:45:13","slug":"john-roberts-again-undermines-scotus-legitimacy-with-irreconcilable-slaughter-and-cook-opinions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-roberts-again-undermines-scotus-legitimacy-with-irreconcilable-slaughter-and-cook-opinions\/","title":{"rendered":"John Roberts Again Undermines SCOTUS Legitimacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjohn-roberts-again-undermines-scotus-legitimacy-with-irreconcilable-slaughter-and-cook-opinions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2625394&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, led by the Roberts Court, signify a important shift in perceptions of presidential authority over self-reliant agencies and raise questions about constitutional interpretation. in Trump v. Slaughter, the court affirmed that the President can remove subordinates within independent agencies at will, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >challenging long-standing precedent established<\/a> by Humphrey\u2019s Executor, which protected agency leaders from presidential firing without cause. Though, in a contrasting ruling in Trump v. Cook, the court limited the President\u2019s ability to dismiss Federal Reserve Board members, citing the Fed\u2019s unique historical and constitutional status as \u201cspecial.\u201d Chief Justice Roberts emphasized the importance of protecting the Federal Reserve\u2019s independence to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-limits-contact-with-white-house-to-prevent-political-interference\/\" title=\"DOJ Limits Contact With White House To Prevent Political Interference\">prevent political interference<\/a> in monetary policy, framing it as rooted in tradition and the Founders\u2019 intent.<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue the court\u2019s actions reflect political motives rather than consistent constitutional principles. Justice Thomas sharply dissented, contending that the Federal Reserve\u2019s structure conflicts with the President\u2019s constitutional powers under Article II, as its members are endowed with executive powers akin to those of earlier national banks, but with added independence. Justice Barrett and Justice Alito also criticized the court\u2019s handling, calling it inconsistent and overly complex for the case at hand.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts suggest that the court\u2019s timing and writing hints at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-gerrymandering-in-new-york-threatens-republican-control-of-congress-in-2024\/\" title=\"NY Democrat Gerrymandering jeopardizes GOP&#039;s hold on Congress in 2024\">strategic decisions aimed<\/a> at safeguarding its institutional legitimacy rather than strictly adhering to legal merits. The decisions reveal a tendency to shape the balance of power between the executive and independent agencies, with implications for democratic accountability and the Constitution\u2019s original design. Critics warn that such rulings undermine confidence in the judiciary and distort the understanding of presidential authority and agency independence.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On Monday, the Roberts Court struck a massive blow against the administrative state when, in a majority opinion drafted by the chief justice, the court affirmed in <em>Trump v. Slaughter <\/em>that \u201cthe President may remove his subordinates\u201d within so-called independent agencies \u201cat will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It should have been a given that in agencies subject to executive control and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-pentagon-head-on-milley-a-disgraceful-and-unprecedented-act-of-insubordination-must-resign-immediately-or-be-fired\/\" title=\"Ex-Pentagon Head On Milley: \u2018A Disgraceful And Unprecedented Act Of Insubordination,\u2019 \u2018Must Resign Immediately Or Be Fired\u2019\">exercising executive authority<\/a> by way of executive-appointed principals, the executive would be free not only to hire but to fire such principals \u2014 that \u201cindependent agencies are not \u2018independent\u2019 in the sense that they are free of the President,\u201d as the court declared. But for more than 90 years, precedent in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/02\/25\/trump-gives-scotus-a-chance-to-make-independent-agencies-accountable-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Humphrey\u2019s Executor<\/em><\/a>  shielded the likes of the plaintiff, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democrat-appointed Federal Trade Commissioner, and other leaders in the alphabet soup of multimember agencies from accountability.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it seemed, the justices were putting an end to the chimera of agencies possessing a mix of powers of the three branches of government, untethered from democratic control, and unaccounted for in the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Yet in classic Roberts Court form, it snatched partial defeat from the jaws of total victory, when on Monday it also handed down a confounding and contradictory counterpart ruling \u2014 suggesting our Constitution abides a fourth branch of government on self-evidently political grounds.<\/p>\n<p>While in <em>Slaughter <\/em>the court declared that the president could remove his independent agency subordinates for any reason at all, in <em>Trump v. Cook <\/em>the majority, again led by Chief Justice Roberts, carved out an exception for the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n<p>Like other independent agencies, the Federal Reserve\u2019s Board of Governors has substantial regulatory and other executive powers. Like other independent agencies, the board consists of presidentially appointed members. And like other independent agencies, the board\u2019s originating statute says the president may remove such members \u201cfor cause\u201d \u2014 a condition that <em>Slaughter <\/em>would seem to have invalidated. Yet the court found that in the case of the president\u2019s attempted firing of Democrat-appointed board member Lisa Cook \u2014 on grounds that this principal with awesome power over monetary policy and the financial system appeared to have committed mortgage fraud \u2014 he in fact was not free to fire her at will.<\/p>\n<p>Far from it.<\/p>\n<p>The court instead found that the judiciary had the power to review her removal; that \u201ccause\u201d is more than just the president\u2019s concern about her conduct or fitness for the position; that, despite the Federal Reserve Act\u2019s silence on the process for removal, and having never before created such a right for an equivalently situated appointee, Cook was due official notice and hearing prior to removal; and that she could remain in office while litigation was pending \u2014 the immediate matter before the court. Cook had secured a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-strikes-blow-to-gun-owner-privacy-rights-in-ruling-accommodating-violence-researchers\/\" title=\"Appeals Court undermines gun owner privacy in favor of &#039;violence researchers\">preliminary injunction halting<\/a> her removal that the Trump administration had appealed all the way up to the Supremes. In upholding that injunction, keeping a fired executive officer in her seat, the court apparently acted in unprecedented fashion.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Because in the views of five justices, The Fed is \u201cspecial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the court\u2019s telling, our central bank is the salve to the financial chaos and calamity that marked America prior to its establishment; it is apparently wholly apolitical; and to permit a president to remove members at will would at minimum create the appearance of corruption.<\/p>\n<p>The Founders \u201cknew from experience\u2026of the calamities that could arise from even the \u2018suspicion\u2019 of political manipulation of monetary policy,\u201d Chief Justice Roberts wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo when they established the First Bank of the United States, they guaranteed its independence from Presidential control. Their successors did the same for the Second Bank. That enabled both banks to serve as the \u2018great regulating wheel\u2019 of the early American financial system\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat matters,\u201d the chief justice concluded, \u201cis that the Federal Reserve remains \u2018consistent with the principles that underpin\u2019 the First and Second Banks \u2014 namely, that monetary policy should not be subject to political interference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To have ruled otherwise in <em>Cook <\/em>then \u201cwould in effect transform the Federal Reserve\u2019s for-cause protection into at-will employment \u2014 an interpretive leap out of step with the statute Congress enacted and our Nation\u2019s tradition of central banking protected from political interference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And to have refused to weigh in as the court did would be \u201cto sow doubt as to the status of one of our Nation\u2019s (and the world\u2019s) most important financial institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of which is to say that the court\u2019s majority, led by Chief Justice Roberts, acted politically, not on the merits. It did not explain how and why the Federal Reserve Board of Governors is constitutionally distinct from other independent agencies, and thus why its appointed members should get special treatment. Instead, it relied upon \u201chistory\u201d or \u201ctradition,\u201d and purportedly not wanting to create potential volatility in the economy and financial markets.<\/p>\n<p>The Roberts Court was not similarly concerned with the volatility and broader economic and geopolitical consequences of upending a global tariff regime and associated negotiations; or our adversaries\u2019 sending of their citizens en masse to the U.S. to have children; or legitimizing the destruction of a health care system representing more than one-sixth of the U.S. GDP.<\/p>\n<p>But that is the least of its issues, as Justice Thomas exposed in a blistering dissent.<\/p>\n<p>While Justice Thomas\u2019s arguments on the demerits of Cook\u2019s case for an injunction, and various other deficiencies in the court\u2019s reasoning are all worth reading, it is his constitutional argument that is most significant.<\/p>\n<p>The Fed, as Thomas details, was effectively a German import modeled on the Reichsbank, flowing naturally from then-President Woodrow Wilson\u2019s progressive ideology calling for centralized administration of virtually everything, including monetary and banking policy. Thomas takes issue with the court\u2019s apparently pollyannaish view as to The Fed\u2019s purported successes, and its elitist view that it has protected us from \u201cthe \u2018common people\u2019 who play the antagonist in the court\u2019s account of the 19th century.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But more importantly, he explains, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was endowed with executive powers. And, contrary to the majority\u2019s narrative, it fundamentally differs in nature and design from our first two national banks, which neither set monetary policy nor regulated, held reserves for, nor served as the lender of the last resort for other financial institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Given that it holds such powers, he says, the court\u2019s insulation of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from firing conflicts with the president\u2019s Article II powers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[I]f the Court prefers an independent Federal Reserve Board,\u201d he writes, \u201cthen its issue is not with the President but with the Constitution. Regardless of whether unaccountable executive officers like Cook would better govern the economy, the Framers rejected such a \u2018promised land of technocratic governance\u2026\u2019 They instead chose government by the people. As a court, our duty is not to second-guess that decision, but to uphold it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Justice Amy Coney Barrett put it in another dissent, \u201cthe Court\u2019s holding is in serious tension with <em>Trump v. Slaughter<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And as Justice Samuel Alito noted in his dissent, the court\u2019s handling of the case was \u201cimpruden[t].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is before us is simply an application for a stay pending appeal, and the Court should have granted or denied that application in a brief order last fall. The nascency of this lawsuit and the novelty of the issues that it presents militated against holding oral argument and issuing a comprehensive opinion at this juncture,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Barrett wrote, the court dealt with a whole slew of complex issues, including \u201cthe constitutional status of the Federal Reserve,\u201d which was \u201centirely outside the scope of this case,\u201d settling the matter with just \u201ca few paragraphs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/volokh\/2026\/06\/29\/chief-justice-roberts-likely-ordered-the-release-of-cook-30-minutes-before-he-announced-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rumored<\/a> that Chief Justice Roberts was calculating even in the timing of the release of his <em>Cook <\/em>decision.<\/p>\n<p>How to explain the release of two seemingly irreconcilable opinions, the Court\u2019s ruling on hugely consequential matters despite the early posture and narrow scope of the case at hand, and other alleged machinations?<\/p>\n<p>One can only conclude that as is the Roberts Court\u2019s hallmark, it acted politically in a bid to \u201cdefend the institution\u201d of the court at the cost of the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>In turn, ironically, it has once again undermined its own legitimacy.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Ben Weingarten is editor at large for RealClearInvestigations. He is a senior contributor to The Federalist, columnist at Newsweek, and a contributor to the New York Post and Epoch Times, among other publications. Subscribe to his newsletter at weingarten.substack.com, and follow him on Twitter: @bhweingarten.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roberts Court affirms president&#8217;s power to remove agency officials<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":698,"featured_media":2625395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/jose-pablo-dominguez-QMclPZKSD6Q-unsplash-e1783303605275.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[82249,34774,82248,36861,32275],"class_list":["post-2625394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-court-controversy","tag-john-roberts","tag-judicial-legitimacy","tag-legal-debate","tag-supreme-court"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/jose-pablo-dominguez-QMclPZKSD6Q-unsplash-e1783303605275.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/698"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2625394"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2625401,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625394\/revisions\/2625401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2625395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2625394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2625394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2625394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}