No! Great Example of Inaccuracy in the Media: Roberts Did Not "Allow Trump to Fire" FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter

Full PDFs of Orders Included for Notes from the Front Members!

No matter what you hear in the media or see in the headlines, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts did not "allow Trump to fire" FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter.

Here are the actual facts:

First, Rebecca Slaughter is an FTC commissioner whom Trump tried to fire. So she sued.

The lawsuit, being a federal lawsuit, was filed in district court (the District Court in D.C.). Slaughter filed a motion for summary judgement, which basically means "the law is so clear, and how the law applies to the facts of the case is so clear, that the court need look no further and should decide in my favor."

The district court agreed and granted the motion for summary judgement, saying "Because the law on the removal of FTC Commissioners is clear, and for the reasons explained below, the court will grant Ms. Slaughters motion for summary judgment and deny Defendants cross-motion for summary judgment."

Then Trump requested that the District Court grant a "stay" (remember that is like a pause in the order taking effect) while Trump appealed it, and the Court said "Denied!"

(Actually, the District Court said, and I quote "Because the court refuses to allow Defendants to continue breaking the law while this litigation proceeds, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendants Motion to Stay is DENIED.")

So, with the stay in place, Trump appealed it to the Court of Appeals, asking for the Court of Appeals to stay the lower court's ruling. and the Appeals Court said "Denied!"

[Notes from the Front members: both the District Court order and the Appeals Court order are included below, along with a screenshot of Roberts’ order; taken together they actually provide an excellent, easy-to-understand roadmap of this sort of thing. If you aren’t a Notes from the Front member you will see a button below to join (it’s only $5 a month) which will give you immediate access to the three orders, plus a whole bunch of other member benefits!]

So Trump appealed it to the Supreme Court. And what the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Roberts) actually said was "The lower court's stay is lifted while we consider this case."

Now, this is important! Lifting the stay is NOT an opinion on the merits of the case - or the underlying facts! Lifting the stay, as with so many other things that come out of appellate decisions and that are twisted by the media, is a decision about the appropriateness of the procedural technicalities. It's important to understand that an entire case can get thrown out due to procedural technicalities, without the court ever getting to the merits of the case!

That doesn't mean that Roberts said that Trump could fire Slaughter! And it doesn't mean that Trump can't fire Slaughter. It doesn't mean ANYTHING about whether Trump can fire Slaughter! THAT is what the Supreme Court is going to struggle with when they review the actual case.

So what does this mean in the interim for Slaughter? She's basically sidelined for now. She's off the FTC payroll, but she is not fired. And won't be unless the Supremes decide that Trump can fire FTC commissioners (i.e. her) in the manner in which he did.

In the meantime my guess is that Trump will appoint someone new as FTC commissioner and then will say to the Supreme Court "but I already replaced her" and then either the Supreme Court will say "Sucks to be you and your new commissioner, reinstate her" or will say "Sucks to be her." There's a lot of precedent, including Supreme Court precedent, on her side.