Commissioners Fire Back: Courts Are Simply Following the Law
Boyle, Hoehn-Saric, and Trumka, represented by attorneys from the Public Citizen Litigation Group, pushed back in a July 11 filing, contending that judges Maddox and AliKhan were merely applying existing precedent.
“Rather than creating a ‘cloud of uncertainty,’ courts have been issuing reasoned judgments subject to appellate review,” the commissioners stated.
They emphasized that the CPSC’s structure remains strikingly similar to the 1935 FTC—administering statutes, issuing regulations, and initiating litigation. As long as Humphrey’s Executor stands, they insisted, so do their removal protections.
Legal Titans Clash Behind the Scenes
The federal government’s case is spearheaded by D. John Sauer from the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office. Representing the ousted commissioners are Nicolas A. Sansone, Allison M. Zieve, and Stephanie Garlock of Public Citizen.
While the Court declined to resolve the broader constitutional issue definitively, its repeated emergency rulings have ignited a firestorm over the future of agency independence and presidential authority.
The battle lines are drawn—and the fate of America’s regulatory apparatus may hang in the balance.
