By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court is set on Monday to weigh the legality of Donald Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission member in a major test of presidential power that could imperil a 90-year-old legal precedent.

The court will hear arguments in the Justice Department’s appeal of a lower court’s decision that the Republican president exceeded his authority when he moved to dismiss Democratic FTC member Rebecca Slaughter in March before her term was set to expire.

The case gives the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, an opportunity to overturn a New Deal-era Supreme Court precedent in a case called Humphrey’s Executor v. United States that has shielded the heads of independent agencies from removal since 1935.

Indep

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