Attorney General Alan Wilson applauds U.S. Supreme Court for agreeing President Trump has authority to replace unelected bureaucrats

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson today applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Monday that allowed President Trump to remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission and that agreed to take up the question of President Trump’s authority to remove other unelected executive officials.

“This is a win for the rule of law and the separation of powers of the three branches of government,” Attorney General Wilson said. “The Founding Fathers gave the president authority to direct the executive branch, which includes being able to hire and fire members of boards and commissions under his authority.”

The ruling came in the case of Trump v. Slaughter. President Trump fired Rebecca Slaughter, a presidentially appointed Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. She sued to block her removal, but the Supreme Court has agreed to allow her dismissal to take effect. It also agreed to hear arguments in December on a federal law that protects some officials from being fired arbitrarily and whether that law infringes on a president’s constitutional authority over the executive branch.

Attorney General Wilson joined a friend-of-the-court brief, filed two weeks ago by 22 other state attorneys general and the Arizona legislature, supporting President Trump’s position. Their brief argues that the president has absolute authority to remove commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission, because, without that, “…the President lacks the ability to compel compliance with his directives, and thus to fulfill his oath to execute the law, U.S. Constitution Article II, subsection 3.”

They also argue that “by threatening the separation of powers, ‘independent’ executive officers and agencies in turn threaten state sovereignty,” by consolidating power in one or a few democratically unaccountable officials.