President Donald Trump just got another huge win this week at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Court has ruled that Trump does have the authority to fire Democrat-appointed members on a key government board.
The Court also got some good news of its own in recent approval polling.
Trump has taken a blowtorch to the federal government, looking to remove anyone who is remotely against his agenda, and this would include Democrat-appointed members of boards and commissions who typically remain in place during an administration change.
When Trump announced that he wanted the Democrat-appointed members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) terminated, Democrats went ballistic.
A group of Democrats, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) penned a letter pushing back, writing, “We write to express serious concern regarding your intention to fire the three Democratic Commissioners from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). This move compromises the ability of the federal government to apply data-driven product safety rules to protect Americans nationwide, away from political influence."
She continued, “We urge you to immediately reverse this order and allow the three Democratic CPSC Commissioners to continue their work to protect consumers, especially children and families, from hazardous products.”
When the issue was initially litigated, the Trump administration lost, then lost again on its appeal, so the Supreme Court was its final hope.
Trump learned this week that the Court ruled 6-3, with all three liberal justices dissenting.
Arguments were heard that Trump did not have the authority to fire these officials based on precedent from a case known as Humphrey’s Executor, which only allows such dismissals if the administration can show cause.
This ruling more or less gives Trump the blanket at-will authority to fire Democrat-appointed board members, who were previously thought to be untouchable.
Over the last decade, there has been a lot of negative press about the Supreme Court, but that now seems to be going the other way, and it is likely due to a rise in conservative support for the panel.
In recent polling, the Court’s approval rating soared to 47%, which represents a five-year high and a huge improvement from the previous poll, which only had the Court at 38% approval.
The last time the high court was above water was July 2020 (54%). From that point forward, the panel was significantly underwater in terms of approval.
In this type of environment, I don’t expect to see the Court rising above 50%, and I actually think that 47% is astonishing when you consider the attacks we have seen against Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. If the Court hands Trump a few more immigration wins, you never know, the justices just might get their heads over that 50% line again.
