The President's Removal Power: A Discussion with Professor Ilan Wurman
About this episode
Professor Ilan Wurman discusses the Supreme Court cases Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter regarding the President's removal power.
On January 21, 2026, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Trump v. Cook, one of two cases pending before the Court involving challenges to the President’s exercise of his Article II removal power. Cook arises from President Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, which, thus far, has been preliminarily enjoined by a federal district court in Washington, D.C. The district court stated, “Cook has made a strong showing that her purported removal was done in violation of the Federal Reserve Act's ‘for cause’ provision.” The other removal case before the Supreme Court is Trump v. Slaughter, which involves the termination of Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter of the Federal Trade Commission and was argued before the Court in December 2025. The issue in this case is whether the President has the authority to dismiss Commissioner Slaughter “at will” – that is, for any reason, including a policy disagreement – despite Congress’s restricting the President’s authority to remove a commissioner and a 1935 Supreme Court decision upholding that restriction. The cases raise interesting and important questions about separation of powers doctrine, the President’s removal…
People in this episode
Host: Touro Law Review
Guest: Professor Ilan Wurman
Topics covered
- President's removal power
- Supreme Court cases
- separation of powers
- administrative agencies
- Federal Reserve
- legal challenges
Keywords
- removal power
- Supreme Court
- Trump v. Cook
- Trump v. Slaughter
- Federal Reserve
- administrative law
- separation of powers
- Lisa Cook
- Rebecca Slaughter
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Supreme Court
Books & works: Federal Reserve Act, 1935 Supreme Court decision
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- Congress, the President, and Tariffs: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump at the Supreme Court
- Law in Literature: The Case of Hollow Spaces
- Drawing the Lines: Gerrymandering and Election Law
- "Cook v. Trump: The President and the Federal Reserve"
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