U.S. Supreme Court Decision Impacts Independence of Federal Agencies

A Dentons webinar focuses on the court ruling’s implications for energy and infrastructure regulation, and environmental rules and permitting processes.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, July 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 29 (Trump v. Slaughter) profoundly impacts independent federal agency decision-making and advances the president’s power to control them.

The Slaughter decision could be critically important to commissions like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Since 1935, federal regulatory agencies have usually consisted of three commissioners from the party in power and two from the minority. Commissioners have had exact terms and, as a result, have been able to express contrary opinions to those of the majority.

Slaughter has overruled Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935), holding that Congress generally can’t shield leaders of executive agencies from presidential removal through "for-cause" protections.

Now the president can remove commissioners from either party if he doesn’t like their opinions.

This has huge implications for every regulated industry and technology, but it could be transformative for decisions coming from FERC, which regulates wholesale electricity and gas transactions.

A virtual roundtable conducted on July 14 by Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, homes in on the impact of the decision on FERC. It is available in its entirety on the Energy Central site: https://www.energycentral.com/energy-biz/post/dentons-virtual-roundtable-updates-on-supreme-court-term-and-impact-of-tCRduf0rN02xZTy.

“This Dentons webinar may be the best, most concise and informative webinar I have ever watched. Anyone in the utility or gas industries should tune into this analytical and to-the-point discussion,” said Llewellyn King, who founded The Energy Daily and has covered energy for 50 years as a print and broadcast journalist.

Clint Vince, chair of Dentons U.S. energy practice, moderates the webinar. The panelists are:

Amy Howe, co-founder, SCOTUSblog;
Simon Steel, partner, regulatory, Dentons;
Sam Olens, twice Republican attorney general of Georgia and now a Dentons partner, regulatory.

The webinar is also available on the Dentons YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Dentons/videos.

“The Slaughter decision significantly expands presidential authority over independent federal agencies. If you are in the utility or gas business and you don’t watch this Dentons webinar, you will spend a lot of time getting informed later,” King said.

Llewellyn King
White House Media LLC
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