Today’s FTC Decision Jeopardizes Our Federal Civil Service

The Supreme Court dramatically increased presidential power, giving presidents control over what had been a nonpartisan, merit-based federal workforce.

The Supreme Court decision giving President Donald Trump unfettered authority to fire members of independent boards and commissions and stack them with political loyalists is a profound reshaping of our constitutional system by judicial fiat. The immediate impact on the competency and capability of our federal government is significant, and we now face the additional threat that the court will do further injury by overturning the power of Congress to maintain a nonpartisan and expert civil service.

In the landmark case of Trump v. Slaughter involving the Federal Trade Commission, the Supreme Court upended nearly a century of constitutional practice that allowed Congress to create boards and commissions largely insulated from undue partisan influence. The ruling represents a dramatic increase in presidential power, giving Trump and future presidents full control over institutions Congress specifically designed to provide objective oversight and independent judgment.

Photo by Cole Miller on Unsplash

The boards and commissions affected by the Slaughter decision include entities that protect investors and ensure the safety of banks, oversee telecommunications and the public airwaves, settle labor-management disputes, ensure the safety of transportation systems, and protect the public from unsafe consumer products. In a separate case, the court exempted the Federal Reserve Board, which it said is protected by law and tradition from political interference.

The court’s decision codifies a practice that Trump unilaterally adopted during the past year and a half and represents a disturbing warning sign that even our government’s nonpartisan, merit-based civil service, which is structured to separate the career workforce from partisan politics, is at serious risk.

Though not ruling on the fate of the civil service, the court said, “All we do today is recognize what has been clear for a century— that those who fall within the President’s ‘general administrative control’ must be removable by the President at will.”

When such expertise is lost and political patronage becomes the order of the day, mistakes will become more likely and government responses slower and less effective. Over time, this will jeopardize critical functions that Americans rely on to solve serious problems, undermine the government’s ability to respond to crises and to competently execute the laws enacted by Congress.

In practical terms, this could mean weaker national security and public health protections, slower disaster response, diminished scientific capacity, less effective consumer safeguards, poorer regulatory oversight and the risk of increased corruption.

Even without the court’s imprimatur, however, Trump has been taken steps to undermine and politicize the federal workforce on top of his moves that through April 2026 saw 434,000 civil servants and their expertise leave the government.

Most recently, the administration imposed a new rule allowing the firing of civil servants in policy-influencing roles without the benefit of due process protections. The administration estimates this rule will apply to 8,000 employees, but the number of employees subject to this new rule could be far greater than advertised now and in the future. Even at 8,000, it represents an effective tripling of the recent norm for the number of political appointees, whom these people will now resemble.

Those immediately impacted by the new policy are employees who advise on the legality of government decisions, how money is spent, and help determine who is hired. This policy, which ultimately will come under judicial review, could place employees in the difficult position of choosing between being fired or standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution.

At the same time, the administration has begun politicizing federal leadership. Since the end of 2024, the career Senior Executive Service has shrunk by nearly 30 percent, with many of these individuals replaced by political appointees. In fact, the government currently has the smallest career senior leadership in the past quarter century while the administration has installed a record number of political appointees to key government positions.

Trump also has instituted a hiring system that for the first time requires applicants to write essays pointing to administration polices they admire and taken steps to further deny employees their rights, including stifling the work of such entities as the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent forum for federal employees to challenge improper personnel actions, and the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates prohibited personnel practices and protects whistleblowers.

The framers of the Constitution understood that those elected to high office should be able to set policy and that government employees should be responsible for faithfully executing the law, but they also knew that liberty and effective government depend on preventing the accumulation of unconstrained power.

The Supreme Court FTC decision erodes this principle and lays the groundwork for knocking down additional guardrails involving the civil service that have helped ensure federal entities serve the public interest rather than the interests of those temporarily in office.

Max Stier is the founding president and CEO of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, an organization focused on building a better government and a stronger democracy.

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