Chief Justice John Roberts allowed the Trump administration to fire a Democrat-appointed Federal Trade Commission member temporarily on Monday while the high court considers an application over the lawsuit regarding the commissioner’s firing.

Roberts temporarily halted the lower court order allowing FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter to remain in her position while the Supreme Court considers the Trump administration’s request to pause the reinstatement and take up the case for full arguments before it has worked its way through the lower courts. The chief justice also requested that Slaughter issue a response to the Justice Department’s application by next Monday at 4 p.m.

Recommended Stories

• Federal judges lash out over Supreme Court justices' emergency orders
• Barrett says thinking about Supreme Court as ‘Left and Right' is wrong
• Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow firing of FTC member and hear full case

The case marks the third time in recent months that the Supreme Court has had to deal with an application regarding the firing of an independent agency head by the Trump administration. In the two previous cases, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to fire the independent agency heads despite the high court’s 1935 precedent in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.

In the Humphrey’s Executor ruling, the Supreme Court found that President Franklin Roosevelt could not fire an FTC commissioner at his discretion and could only fire him “for cause,” as outlined in the law passed by Congress authorizing the creation of the FTC.

Slaughter’s lawsuit challenging her firing presents a similar dispute to the 1935 case, with the Justice Department asking the high court in a petition last week to review the Slaughter case now as a direct challenge to the Humphrey’s Executor ruling.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer presented two questions for the high court to consider before judgment, including if the law establishing the FTC “violates the separation of powers by prohibiting the President from removing a member of the Federal Trade Commission except for ‘inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office’” and if the “district court’s order restoring respondent to office exceeded the court’s remedial authority.”

While the Supreme Court rarely takes cases before they have worked their way through lower courts, it has taken more of these cases in recent years. The request for the high court to hear the case before judgment also came amid several lower court rulings that have contradicted the Supreme Court’s emergency orders regarding the firing of independent agency heads.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO ALLOW FIRING OF FTC MEMBER AND HEAR FULL CASE

When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to block the reinstatement of Slaughter pending appeal, the majority refused to “do the Supreme Court’s job of reconsidering [the] precedent” of Humphrey’s Executor.

Four of the nine justices must vote to grant certiorari for the high court to accept a petition to hear full arguments.