WASHINGTON, D.C. | June 29, 2026 — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that the President has the authority to terminate independent Commissioners appointed to lead numerous federal agencies, including agencies central to the protection of whistleblower rights, at will.
The Trump v. Slaughter ruling undermines the independence of executive agencies, which can bias the review of whistleblower cases conducted by agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Merit Systems Protection Board.
In its amicus brief in support of Slaughter, NWC explained that a President’s unchecked power to remove independent officials at will has a particularly devastating impact on whistleblowers employed by the federal government seeking to expose corruption for the public good.
NWC Chairman of the Board, Stephen Kohn, an author of the brief, stated: “This decision is a catastrophic blow to the rights of whistleblowers.”
“The MSPB was designed to be an independent agency, mandated to protect whistleblowers who exposed wrongdoing by the President and other executive officials,” Kohn said. “Now the President can fire MSPB members at will for political reasons, and federal employee whistleblowers can face terminations for simply exposing wrongdoing within the executive branch.”
Kohn is available for comment. For more information, contact Jeana Lee, NWC’s Program Manager, at jeana.lee@whistleblowers.org.
