Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson unleashed a full-throttle defense of unelected bureaucrats on Monday during oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, openly arguing that presidents should not be allowed to fire the PhDs, doctors, and so-called “experts” who run America’s “independent commission” scam.
In other words, bureaucrats should outrank the elected President of the United States.
The case stems from President Trump’s March decision to fire Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, both Democrat commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission.
Trump acted squarely within Article II, which vests all executive power in the President.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson made it plain:
“President Donald J. Trump is the head of the executive branch and is vested with all of the executive power in our government. I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove Commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government. The Federal Trade Commission will continue its tireless work to protect consumers, lower prices, and police anticompetitive behavior.”
Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya responded by suing to get their jobs back.
In July, Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan overrode the firing and ordered Slaughter reinstated.
The D.C. Circuit, stacked with Obama judges, upheld her decision, citing the 90-year-old case Humphrey’s Executor.
The Supreme Court in September granted the Trump administration’s request to stay the lower-court order, meaning Slaughter would remain removed while the legal challenge proceeds. At the same time, SCOTUS accepted the case for full argument.
The Supreme Court on Monday held explosive oral arguments for over two hours.
During the argument, Justice Jackson launched into a “No Kings” rant, claiming that presidents should have almost no control over scientists, economists, regulators, and other “experts” in Washington’s bureaucratic empire.
According to Jackson, the President, elected by millions of Americans, should NOT control:
• Transportation authorities
• Economic regulators
• The Federal Reserve
• Multimember agency boards
• Vast sectors of federal policymaking
She even insisted that “these issues should not be in presidential control.”
Jackson invoked warnings about “monarchy,” suggesting that letting the President fire bureaucrats would somehow place America on the road to kingship.
Ketanji Brown:
“That some issues, some matters, some areas should be handled in this way by non-partisan experts; that Congress is saying that expertise matters with respect to aspects of the economy and transportation and the various independent agencies that we have.
So having a President come in and fire all the scientists, and the doctors, and the economists, and the PhDs, and replace them with loyalists and people who don’t know anything, is actually not in the best interest of the citizens of the United States.
These issues should not be in presidential control. Can you speak to me about the danger of allowing, in these various areas, the President to actually control the Transportation Board and potentially the Federal Reserve and all these other independent agencies?
In these particular areas, we would like to have independence. We… we don’t want the President controlling.
I guess what I don’t understand from your overarching argument is why that determination of Congress—which makes perfect sense given its duty to protect the people of the United States—why that is subjugated to a concern about the President not being able to control everything.
I appreciate there’s a conflict between the two, but one would think, under our constitutional design, given the history of the monarchy and the concerns the Framers had about a President controlling everything, that in the clash between those two, Congress’s view—that we should be able to have independence with respect to certain issues—should take precedence.”
WATCH:
Ketanji lost it today during oral arguments and went on a “No Kings” style rant about President Trump wanting to rule like a monarch, and how we should instead have many issues handled by “the experts and PhDs” like Dr. Fauci, Dr. “Rachel” Levine, and the gay bondage AIDS dude. pic.twitter.com/Z8qFZgZzsR
— Bad Hombre (@Badhombre) December 8, 2025
Justice Brett Kavanaugh weighed in with a devastating hypothetical.
He asked what happens when a future president is intentionally sabotaged by the prior administration through strategic stacking of independent agencies with officials who cannot be removed.
Justice Kavanaugh:
“I want to give you a chance to deal with the hard hypothetical. When both Houses of Congress and the President are controlled by the same party, they create a lot of these independent agencies or extend some of the current independent agencies into these kinds of situations so as to thwart future Presidents of the opposite party.”
WATCH:
JUST IN: SCOTUS Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Sam Alito NUKE the “independent commission” scam, an apparent win for Trump
Their argument: Can Congress just make ANY Cabinet office an “independent commission,” thereby DESTROYING the presidency?
KAVANAUGH: “Independent agencies… pic.twitter.com/4dENQkZD56
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 8, 2025
The post Ketanji Brown Jackson Argues Presidents Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Fire Bureaucrats Running Independent Agencies — Justice Brett Kavanaugh Shreds Her Argument appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.