Campaign Legal Center Files SCOTUS Brief in Support of Independent Agencies

Washington, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), joined by CLC president and former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Trevor Potter, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter. The Supreme Court is set to consider whether removal protections for officials of independent agencies violate constitutional separation of powers principles. While the Trump administration in this case is specifically defending its illegal dismissal of Rebecca Slaughter, former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, the Supreme Court’s decision could upend nearly 100 years of legal precedent approving independent multimember agencies — opening the door to presidential control of some of the very independent agencies that regulate him, including those overseeing elections. 

Trevor Potter, who also is president of Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement: 

“The president of the United States is also a partisan political figure who leads one of the two major political parties, campaigns for party candidates, raises money for party committees, and is often a candidate for reelection. They should therefore never have direct control over the independent agencies that regulate federal elections. 

"As Campaign Legal Center and I argue in the brief we’ve filed with the Supreme Court, authorizing the president to control the nation’s election agencies would expose the regulation of election activities to partisan manipulation, undermining the integrity of our democratic system and the rule of law. 

"We are therefore urging the justices to preserve the long-standing legal precedent that insulates agencies like the Federal Election Commission and the Election Assistance Commission from presidential control. Challenging the limits of presidential power over independent agencies is simply the latest move in Trump’s campaign to erode the separation of powers that keeps a president from becoming a dictator. The consequences of a broad overhaul by the Supreme Court of precedent and law limiting the president's authority over election agencies would be disastrous for democratic accountability.” 

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Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan legal organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy. Founded in 2002, CLC fights for every American’s freedom to vote and participate meaningfully in the democratic process. 

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