Season 5, Episode 19 (Show 228): Possibly Preparing Humphrey’s Execution

May 28, 2025

The Court steps into the Presidential firing controversy,  overturning lower courts’ injunctions. Is this tantamount to deciding the case?  Justice Kagan expresses deep concerns not only about the ruling, but the circumstances.  We examine.

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This past week, the Supreme Court issued stays of injunctions which lower courts had issued, those injunctions blocking the firings of officials on statutorily independent agencies.  In doing so, the Court may have pointed to an imminent overruling of Humphrey’s Executor, possibly removing existing limitations on the unitary executive theory.  At the same time, the Court moved to protect the Federal Reserve, or at least markets’ perception of the independence of that crucial Board.  Several justices reacted strongly, led by Justice Kagan, who found fault not only in the ruling regarding the injunction, but in the behavior of the President in bringing this case on in the first place.  We take a deeper look at these controversies.  Meanwhile, the Court deadlocked in a religious freedom case, and surprisingly, we see a connection between these two events.  And some other tidbits, as well. 

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