This is Part 4 of a four-part series. Start with Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
The overruling of Humphrey’s Executor, discussed in Part 1 of this series, addresses presidential removal power, not the constitutionality of administrative adjudication itself. The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Slaughter held that FTC commissioners may not be insulated from at-will presidential removal, but the court also described the FTC as an agency that exercises “rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudicatory powers.” This indicates that the existence of adjudicatory functions was not itself the constitutional defect.
