Catholic Law's Professor Joel Alicea was recently interviewed by CBS News to discuss the Supreme Court's 1935 decision in Humphrey's Executor v. United States. In that case, the Court established an exception to the president's authority to remove executive officers. The interview explored whether the Supreme Court might revisit—and potentially overturn—this nearly century-old precedent.

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CBS News
By Melissa Quinn
Date: February 17, 2025
Trump's firings of independent agency heads put 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent in crosshairs

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"It really was kind of a matter of time before a test case made its way to the court, where the court would have a chance to overrule Humphrey's," Joel Alicea, a law professor at the Catholic University of America, told CBS News.

Alicea was referring to the Supreme Court's 1935 decision in the case Humphrey's Executor v. United States, in which the court carved out an exception to the president's power to remove executive officers. William Humphrey, appointed to a second term on the Federal Trade Commission by President Herbert Hoover, was asked to resign by President Franklin Roosevelt. The new president then fired him, citing their policy differences, rather than dismissing him for cause. The case is referred to a Humphrey's Executor because he died not long after his firing, but the executors of his estate brought the case to pursue his back pay.

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