Is This the End of Humphrey’s Executor?

President Trump’s effort to remove an FTC Commissioner has renewed attention on one of the most enduring and debated precedents in administrative law: Humphrey’s Executor.

For the last ninety years, Humphrey’s Executor has shaped the structure of the administrative state, creating a class of “independent” agencies whose leaders are shielded from presidential at-will removal and raising enduring questions about accountability and the proper scope of executive power. As the Supreme Court now prepares for oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter next week—a case that squarely invites the Justices to confront the future of Humphrey’s—the moment presents an opportunity to examine the doctrine's historical development, its structural implications, and its role in contemporary governance.

This webinar will examine the historical and structural integrity of Humphrey’s Executor, its impact on modern governance, and what a post-Humphrey's Landscape might mean for the operation of federal agencies moving forward.

Featuring: 

• Prof. J. Joel Alicea, St. Robert Bellarmine Professor of Law; Associate Dean for Faculty Research; and Director, the Center for the Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
• Prof. Stephanie Barclay, Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director for the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, Georgetown University Law Center
• Erin M. Hawley, Senior Counsel & Vice President of Center for Life & Regulatory Practice, Alliance Defending Freedom
• (Moderator) Elizabeth Slattery, Director of Constitutional Scholarship, Pacific Legal Foundation

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.