Here’s a troubling news alert for everyone who cares about workers and consumers being protected from illegal, exploitative, and dangerous business practices: The Supreme Court appears ready to give President Donald Trump extraordinary power over what for nearly a century have been independent expert federal worker and consumer protection agencies insulated from White House interference.
The court showed its hand in Wilcox v. Trump—the case involving Trump’s unprecedented effort to fire Gwynne Wilcox—a Senate-confirmed member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the first Black woman to ever serve as a member of the NLRB.
Members of independent agencies like the NLRB, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), are nominated by the president and confirmed by the US Senate for defined terms. They are protected by law against being removed from office except where there has been wrongdoing and only after notice and a hearing. The Supreme Court has recognized and respected these “for cause” removal protections for 90 years.
That is, until now.
The crazy thing to me here is not Trump and SCOTUS being predictably Trump and SCOTUS – this much is to be expected – but rather how much power gets transferred to corporations as a “side” benefit. Because, you know, they don’t have enough.
Enough of this shit, and there will be a revolt.
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Honestly, every thing they’re clawing back to the president is just something that a Democrat can use to fix things. The next Democrat that’s president will probably be one that acknowledges things have not been operating as normal and there will be a lot of people that need to be replaced.
