Who Can the President Fire?
Who can the president fire, and who gets to decide? Written in December 2025, this essay follows the dispute over presidential removal power from the First Congress to Franklin Roosevelt's dismissal of FTC commissioner William Humphrey and the Supreme Court case known as Humphrey's Executor. The poker-table metaphor begins with James Madison's wager on an accountable executive and a dangerous legislature.
The discussion reaches Trump v. Slaughter as it stood at publication, not as a report of a later ruling. Independent agencies raise a difficult question: can Congress protect officials from…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.