The Latest: The Supreme Court weighs Trump’s bid to fire independent agency board members

The Trump administration’s push to expand control over independent federal agencies comes before a sympathetic Supreme Court that could overturn a 90-year-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members.

Lawyers for the administration are defending President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter without cause and calling on the court to jettison the unanimous 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor.

Arguments are taking place Monday.

Here's the latest:

The justices are done questioning the Trump administration.

The solicitor general got some questions from the court’s conservatives about its sweeping argument for expanded presidential power over federal agencies, especially as it relates to the Fed, though the sharpest questions came from the court’s liberals.

They’re now hearing from Amit Agarwal, the attorney for the FTC board member fired by the president.

The case before the Supreme Court today is over the firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a member of the Federal Trade Commission.

But the court’s eventual decision has big implications for all kinds of federal agencies.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh brought up one of the biggest questions: If the court sides with the government, what would that mean for the Federal Reserve, which sets monetary policy?

Kavanaugh is a conservative who’s considered receptive to the Trump administration’s position. But he told Sauer he was concerned about undermining the Fed’s independence.

In his answer, Sauer pointed to the Supreme Court’s previous order, calling the Fed a “quasi private, uniquely structured. He said it raises different issues.

The court has allowed many of Trump’s firings for now, but a rare exception was Lisa Cook, the Fed board governor he tried to fire. The high court is hearing arguments over her firing in January.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and their Australian counterparts held annual U.S.-Australia security talks, lauding decades of strong strategic cooperation between their countries and talking up a deal with Britain under which Australia will develop nuclear-powered submarines as key to Indo-Pacific stability.

Rubio, Hegseth, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles met at the State Department on Monday for discussions on their bilateral cooperation on critical minerals, defense production and the so-called “AUKUS” agreement, a Biden administration-era deal that will see the U.S. and Britain assist Australia with production of advanced submarines.

All sides said AUKUS was moving “full steam ahead” and Rubio is to meet later Monday with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

None of the four made any reference to China and its increasing assertiveness in the region, including in the South China Sea and directed at Taiwan, but the annual AUSMIN meeting have for the past several years focused heavily on countering Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

The Republican administration’s top attorney to the nation’s highest court is facing close questioning as he argues for expanded presidential power.

The liberal justices on the Supreme Court grilled Solicitor General John Sauer on the potential consequences if they win the case.

“You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, “and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that the government is better structured with some agencies that are independent.”

The high court’s conservative supermajority is seen as sympathetic to the administration’s position that presidents should be able fire independent agency board members for any reason.

A top European Union official on Monday warned the United States against interfering in Europe’s affairs and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.

European Council President António Costa’s remarks came in reaction to the Trump administration’s new national security strategy, which was published Friday and paints European allies as weak, while offering tacit support to far-right political parties.

The document, which was praised by Russia, formalizes in writing months of Trump administration criticism of EU policy and perceived restrictions on free speech that started with a lecture to European allies in Germany in February by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

It’s “good” that the strategy depicts European countries as an ally, but “allies don’t threaten to interfere in the domestic political choices of their allies,” Costa said.

▶ Read more about Europe and Trump’s national security strategy

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are meeting their Australian counterparts for annual U.S.-Australia talks expected to focus on Indo-Pacific security and countering China’s increasing assertiveness in the region, including in the South China Sea and directed at Taiwan.

Rubio, Hegseth, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles were gathered at the State Department on Monday with many eyes also on the Russia-Ukraine and Gaza conflicts along with U.S. military strikes against alleged narco-traffickers in the Western Hemisphere that have raised questions about the use of force there.

The four are also expected to discuss progress in the so-called “AUKUS” pact, a Biden administration-era agreement under which the U.S., Britain and Australia committed to building nuclear submarines for the Australians. Rubio is to meet later Monday with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

President Trump is planning the aid package for U.S. farmers who’ve struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war, according to a White House official.

According to the official, who was granted anonymity to speak ahead of a planned announcement, Trump will unveil the plan Monday afternoon at the White House.

Farmers have backed Trump politically but his aggressive trade policies and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny because of the impact on the agricultural sector and because of broader consumer worries.

The aid is the administration’s latest effort to defend Trump’s economic stewardship and answer voter angst about rising costs — even as the president has dismissed concerns about affordability as a Democratic “hoax.”

▶ Read more about Trump’s farm aid package

Republicans in key battleground U.S. House districts are working to contain the political fallout that may come when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act.

For a critical sliver of the Republican majority, the impending expiration of what are called enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 is a pressing concern as they potentially face headwinds in a 2026 midterm election that will be critical to President Trump’s agenda.

One of those is first-term U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., whose victory for the Allentown-area seat last year was among the narrowest in the nation.

Mackenzie is part of a bipartisan group that’s been pressing for an eleventh-hour compromise, advocating for an extension of the tax credits that tries to fix perceived flaws and bring down health care costs. But the push is a long shot due to entrenched GOP opposition to the health overhaul known as “Obamacare.”

▶ Read more about health care costs and House swing districts

Former Rep. Colin Allred, a Democrat, is ending his U.S. Senate campaign in Texas and instead will attempt a House comeback bid.

Allred said he’ll run in a newly drawn district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which he previously represented in Congress before running unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2024.

Allred’s decision comes with Rep. Jasmine Crockett expected to make her decision on the Senate race on the final day of qualifying in Texas. State lawmaker James Talarico also is running for the Senate. Allred said in a statement that he wanted to avoid a Democratic primary battle and likely runoff.

Republicans also are expecting a hotly contested primary between incumbent John Cornyn, state Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.

The Trump administration’s push to expand control over independent federal agencies comes before a sympathetic Supreme Court that could overturn a 90-year-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members.

Lawyers for the administration are defending President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter without cause and calling on the court to jettison the unanimous 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor.

Arguments are taking place Monday.

The court’s six conservative justices already have signaled strong support for the administration’s position, over the objection of their three liberal colleagues, by allowing Slaughter and the board members of other agencies to be removed from their jobs even as their legal challenges continue.

Members of the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission also have been fired by Trump.

▶ Read more about the upcoming arguments

Trump is angry that Rep. Henry Cuellar is running again as a Democrat rather than switch parties after the president pardoned the Texas congressman and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case.

Trump blasted Cuellar for “Such a lack of LOYALTY,” suggesting the Republican president might have expected the clemency to bolster the GOP’s narrow House majority heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

Cuellar, in a television interview Sunday after Trump’s social media post, said he was a conservative Democrat willing to work with the administration “to see where we can find common ground.” The congressman said he had prayed for the president and the presidency at church that morning “because if the president succeeds, the country succeeds.”

Citing a fellow Texas politician, the late President Lyndon Johnson, Cuellar said he was an American, Texan and Democrat, in that order. “I think anybody that puts party before their country is doing a disservice to their country,” he told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

▶ Read more about Cuellar and Trump

Trump on Sunday hosted the Kennedy Center Honors and praised Sylvester Stallone, Kiss, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford and George Strait, the slate of honorees he helped choose, as being “legendary in so many ways.”

“Billions and billions of people have watched them over the years,” Trump, the first president to command the stage, said to open the show.

The Republican president said the artists, recognized with tribute performances during the show, are “among the greatest artists and actors, performers, musicians, singers, songwriters ever to walk the face of the Earth.”

Since returning to office in January, Trump has made the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which is named after a Democratic predecessor, a touchstone in a broader attack against what he has lambasted as “woke” anti-American culture.

Trump said Saturday that he was hosting “at the request of a certain television network.” He predicted the broadcast scheduled for Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+, would have its best ratings ever.

Before Trump, presidents watched the show alongside the honorees. Trump skipped the honors altogether during his first term.

▶ Read more about this year’s Kennedy Center Honors

Trump said Sunday that a deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share.

“There’s no question about it,” Trump said, answering questions about the deal and various other topics as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors.

The Republican president said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the $72 billion deal. If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s biggest streaming services under the same ownership and join Warner’s television and motion picture division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast library and its production arm.

Asked if Netflix should be allowed to buy the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max, the president said, “Well that’s the question.”

“They have a very big market share and when they have Warner Bros., you know, that share goes up a lot so, I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll be involved in that decision, too. But they have a very big market share.”

▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on the merger