The US Supreme Court has overruled a 90-year-old precedent to grant President Donald Trump broad authority to dismiss officials at independent federal agencies, in a landmark ruling that significantly expands executive power at the expense of Congress. In Trump v Slaughter, decided on 29 June, the court's six-justice conservative majority struck down the "for cause" firing protections that had shielded commissioners of bodies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since 1935, when Humphrey's Executor v United States first established congressional authority to insulate such agencies from direct presidential control. The decision, which aligns with the "unitary executive" theory long championed by Chief Justice John Roberts, means that dozens of independent agencies created by Congress over nearly a century may now be subject to at-will presidential dismissal — a shift critics warn removes a critical institutional check on executive power that will outlast the current administration.