On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court overturned a 90-year-old rule and held that the president can fire the leaders of independent agencies at will. It started with the Federal Trade Commission, but it reaches the agencies that referee Wall Street, protect workers, and police monopolies, including the SEC, the National Labor Relations Board, and the FCC.
These agencies were built to be independent for a reason. They make calls that cost powerful companies money, and Congress did not want those calls to flip every time the White House changed hands or a donor complained. Now a single official can be fired for ruling the wrong way, which means the agency answers to the president instead of the law. Tellingly, the court carved out the Federal Reserve, the one agency Wall Street most wanted protected.
Congress cannot un-ring this bell on its own, but it is not powerless. I am asking you to use your oversight and funding power to defend these agencies' core work, to demand answers when commissioners are fired for political reasons, and to refuse to confirm or bankroll a partisan takeover of the referees who are supposed to protect ordinary people from corporate abuse. The agencies should answer to the law, not to whoever holds the White House.
