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Watch: Trump reacts to expanded presidential power in Supreme Court ruling
“Supreme Court expands presidential power to fire regulators, but deals Trump defeats on mail-in ballots, Carroll case, and Fed governor.”
North America correspondent Published 29 June 2026
On the second-to-last day of Supreme Court decisions for this term, the justices delivered a big win for Donald Trump. But beneath the headline-generating ruling on expansive presidential power, the court gave some indications that this particular president may not always get what he wants – and the three liberal justices may have a few unexpected allies amongst the six conservative justices on the high court.
Nearly 100 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not have unchecked power to replace commissioners on regulatory agencies set up by Congress to be insulated from presidential authority. On Monday, facing a challenge by Republican Trump, the court decisively scrapped that precedent.
"Subordinates who exercise the president's power are subject to removal by him," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "Then, and only then, can they remain accountable to the president, and the president to the people."
In this ruling, the court's justices divided into familiar groupings. All six conservatives, three of whom were appointed by Trump, found in favour of the president. The three liberal justices, all appointed by Democrats, dissented.
Trump celebrated the ruling on Truth Social: "Ninety years of precedent has been completely and unequivocally overruled, greatly increasing presidential power at a time when it is most needed!"
The court's decision will give Trump, and all future presidents, broad power to remove and replace regulators from dozens of key agencies with whom they disagree. The Federal Trade Commission was directly at issue in this case (as it was in Roosevelt's), but the precedent the court sets here will apply to regulatory bodies interpreting election laws, issuing communications policies, resolving labour disputes and establishing financial and environmental regulations. Americans are used to dramatic policy swings when a president of a different political party takes over the presidency – from Barack Obama to Trump to Joe Biden and back to Trump. This court's decision is sure to supercharge that trend.
But the Supreme Court also delivered three defeats for Trump on the same day. It allowed late-arriving mail-in ballots in a defeat for Trump. It rejected Trump's final appeal of the E Jean Carroll sex abuse case. And it blocked Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. These rulings suggest that while the conservative majority expanded presidential power, they are not simply a rubber stamp for Trump's every move.