Independent Agencies Under A Microscope—What Are The Implications For FERC?

In his second week in office, President Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox (a member of the NLRB). The firing was communicated by an email sent from the Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel with a statement from the President. The statement did not purport to find either "neglect of duty or malfeasance in office," as required by the National Labor Relations Act's removal provision. And just last week, the Acting Solicitor General informed Congress that her office will no longer defend the constitutionality of certain for-cause removal provisions that apply to multimember independent agencies and will ask the Supreme Court to reverse a landmark 1935 precedent that recognized an exception to the President's power to remove principal officers.