Tipped scales: the Supreme Court expands the president's power

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• 00:06

  The New President didn't like what he inherited.

• 00:11

  William Humphrey was a conservative holdover at the Federal Trade Commission.

• 00:15

  President Franklin Roosevelt was worried that Humphrey would stymie his anti-monopoly agenda.

• 00:21

  So, FDR asked Humphrey to resign.

• 00:25

  And when he didn't, FDR fired him.

• 00:29

  Not long after, Humphrey died.

• 00:32

  The executor of his estate sued, saying Humphrey was not fired for malfeasance or neglect of duty.

• 00:39

  The Supreme Court agreed.

• 00:42

  And for the past 90 years,

• 00:43

  a case involving a dead man has set the precedent that a president does not directly control the heads of independent agencies.

• 00:51

  For now.

• 00:53

  I'm John Prado and this is Chex and Balance from The Economist.

• 01:00

  Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.

• 01:11

  Today, will the news Supreme Court term further expand presidential power?

• 01:22

  It's set to hear cases on whether President Trump can fire the heads of those independent agencies,

• 01:28

  the constitutionality of his tariffs and a raft of others,

• 01:32

  ranging from gerrymandering to trans athletes to campaign finance.

• 02:09

  With me this week to talk about the Supreme Court,

• 02:12

  which has a big term starting next week with lots of cases that could reshape presidential authority are Charlotte Howard and Steve Cole.

• 02:20

  Charlotte, how are you doing?

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