US supreme court hears arguments over Trump’s power to fire FTC member

The US supreme court is hearing arguments on Monday concerning the legality of Donald Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission member in a major test of presidential power, with a justice department lawyer asking the justices to overrule a 90-year-old legal precedent.

The justice department has appealed a lower court’s decision that the Republican president exceeded his authority when he moved to dismiss Rebecca Slaughter, the Democratic FTC member, 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.

“Humphrey’s must be overruled,”