Episode Details

When President Trump fired a Federal Trade Commission commissioner in 2025, it sparked a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court — and ended up re-shaping the American government. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court's conservative majority struck down nearly a century of precedent protecting independent agency heads from at-will presidential removal, handing the executive branch sweeping new authority over agencies Congress had designed to be nonpartisan.

On this season premiere episode of Democracy Decoded, host Simone Leeper explores what this ruling means for the separation of powers and the rule of law. Joined by NYU law professor Melissa Murray, retired federal judge Michael Luttig, and Campaign Legal Center's Brent Ferguson, Leeper examines how an increasingly emboldened executive, a passive Congress, and a compliant Supreme Court are eroding the constitutional safeguards that protect American democracy — and what citizens can do to push back before it's too late.

Episode Highlights:

2:01 — Why is the rule of law the foundation of democracy that rarely gets the headlines it deserves?

5:06 — Which traumas were the Framers responding to when they designed the Constitution?

6:05 — How fragile was the early American government before the Constitution was written?

10:53 — What is impoundment, how did Nixon weaponize it, and why is Trump bringing it back?

12:10 — What is the "shadow docket" and how has the Supreme Court been using it to side with Trump?

13:40 — What would Judge Luttig say to his old friend Chief Justice John Roberts if given the chance?

15:41 — Why does Judge Luttig say Trump v. United States destroyed a critical part of the structural Constitution?

19:03 — Has the Constitution itself failed — or have the people responsible for upholding it?

21:30 — What does the Trump v. Slaughter ruling actually mean for independent federal agencies?

23:10- — Why are the FEC and EAC uniquely vulnerable — and what is Campaign Legal Center doing to protect them?

25:52 — What did a 1952 Supreme Court justice foresee about executives who move too fast — and who was he really warning about?

31:13 — Who ultimately holds the power in American democracy, and what are they being called to do?

Host and Guests:

Simone Leeper litigates a wide range of redistricting-related cases at Campaign Legal Center, challenging gerrymanders and advocating for election systems that guarantee all voters an equal opportunity to influence our democracy. Prior to arriving at CLC, Simone was a law clerk in the office of Senator Ed Markey and at the Library of Congress, Office of General Counsel. She received her J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 2019 and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University in 2016.

Melissa Murray is the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at NYU School