Trump Asks Supreme Court to Greenlight Removal of Consumer Product Safety Commissioners

The Trump administration has sparked a legal dispute over executive power and the independence of government agencies by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to permit the removal of three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), marking a new test of presidential authority.

President Trump fired commissioners Richard Trumka, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and Mary Boyle earlier this year; the administration formally requested that the Supreme Court suspend a lower court judgment reinstating them on July 2, 2025. After being removed, the commissioners—all of whom had been nominated under the previous administration—filed a lawsuit, claiming that Trump had overreached his constitutional authority and breached legal safeguards intended to shield the CPSC from political influence.

The administration argues that the president should have broad power to fire members of the executive branch, particularly those in charge of key regulatory organisations. Trump’s legal team contends that the CPSC’s organisational structure, which restricts the president’s power to dismiss commissioners without reason, violates executive authority and interferes with the administration’s policy goals.

The dismissed commissioners asked the justices to allow them to stay in their positions while the Supreme Court considered the administration’s appeal in a counter-filing. They caution that the checks and balances that ensure agency integrity and consumer rights would be compromised if the president were given the authority to dismiss independent regulators arbitrarily.

In the current administrative context, the disagreement underscores the ongoing effort to define the boundaries of executive power as the Supreme Court considers whether to intervene.