ACS Denounces the Supreme Court's Consolidation of Executive Power

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez, media@acslaw.org

Washington, DC – The American Constitution Society released the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter.

"Today, the Supreme Court released its decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter, a pair of cases with deeply conflicting logic and outcomes that have profound consequences for Americans in our everyday lives.

The pair of cases eliminates the independence of all federal agencies apart from the Federal Reserve, upending the separation of powers and giving carte blanche to the Trump Administration to continue taking a wrecking ball to the federal government.

Most disturbingly, and with little more than handwaving at the concept of stare decisis, the Court overruled Humphrey’s Executor, a 90-year-old precedent that placed commonsense constraints on a president’s ability to remove federal officials tasked with protecting the health, wealth, and safety of the American people.

That the Court chose in Cook to create a carveout for the Federal Reserve from the destruction it wrought in Slaughter is a practical relief that also reveals a simple truth: The Roberts Court continues to backend its way into legal justifications for the policy outcomes it prefers.

Under the pretense of guarding the separation of powers, selectively adopting and applying a radical, fringe theory, the Roberts Court has surrendered power to the President at the expense of institutional independence. Today's decisions will have ramifications for so many facets of our day-to-day lives. Safety and security in our homes, at our jobs, and in the marketplace is now unprotected from shifting political winds and vulnerable to any president who sees the federal government as his or her personal possession."

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
The American Constitution Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others, our mission is to support and advocate for laws and legal systems that redress the founding failures of our Constitution, strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and realize the promise of equality for all, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and other historically excluded communities. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org.