Donald Trump Removing Supreme Court Justices Imagined in Court Papers

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Apr 23, 2025 at 5:09 AM EDT | Updated Apr 23, 2025 at 11:50 AM EDT


A group of attorney generals have hypothesized about President Donald Trump trying to remove high-ranking judges like U.S. Supreme Court justices, in a letter supporting two Federal Trade Commission commissioners' lawsuit against their own removal. Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, both Democrats, are suing Trump and his administration, over the president's efforts to remove them from their posts last last month.

The pair argue the president lacks the authority to fire them. In an amicus brief filed on Friday, senior Democrat state legal officials—including attorney generals from Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, and Illinois—compared the firing to Trump removing Article III judges, a group that includes the high court justices. The White House has been contacted via email for comment.

Why It Matters

The lawsuit sets up another legal confrontation between the Trump administration and Democrat states over the president's power to remove senior federal workers.

What To Know

In the letter to presiding U.S. District Court Judge Loren L. AliKhan, the group argued the president is trying to assert "powers he does not [have]." "The Administration essentially asserts that even if the President has no power to remove an officer, he can do it anyway, and there is nothing federal courts can do about it," it said. "That is not, and cannot be, the law." The group said if the court finds it could not take action against the administration removing the FTC commissioners it "would have untenable consequences," using the hypothetical scenario of the president trying to remove senior judges.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-removing-supreme-court-justices-imagined-court-papers-2062549

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Link to Colorado AG Phil Weiser PRESS RELEASE - Attorney General Phil Weiser leads coalition challenging illegal firing of FTC commissioners

Link to AMICUS BRIEF (PDF) - https://coag.gov/app/uploads/2025/04/2025.04.18-FTC-Commissioners-Amicus-Brief-As-Filed.pdf