Topline
The three remaining members of a bipartisan federal committee that assists states and local officials administer elections were fired by the White House on Thursday, in a move that could impact the midterms and just weeks after after the Supreme Court upended a 90-year-old precedent allowing the president to remove independent federal agency officials.
Key Facts
According to multiple outlets, the Election Assistance Commission’s two remaining Democratic Commissioners—Thomas Hicks and Benjamin W. Hovland—were fired by email.
The agency’s sole Republican commissioner Christy McCormick was also asked to resign.
The White House confirmed the firings and told NBC News that the ousted individuals will be “replaced,” without specifying a timeline as any new appointments will need Senate approval.
The emails sent to the two Democratic commissioners were signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, the deputy director of the White House’s Office of Presidential Personnel, and informed them that their positions had been “terminated, effective immediately.”
According to Votebeat, the agency’s fourth commissioner, Republican appointee Donald Palmer, resigned from the agency earlier this year and joined the conservative Heritage Foundation.
What Do We Know About The Supreme Court Ruling?
Late last month, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of President Donald Trump, allowing him to fire Federal Trade Commissioner and Democratic appointee Rebecca Slaughter. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled 6-3 in favor of allowing Trump to fire the FTC commissioner and other officials of independent federal boards. The court decision overturned Humphrey’s Executor v. United States case from 1935, where the Supreme Court had restricted the president’s ability to carry out such firings in a bid to ensure that these committees remained independent and free from political interference.
Tangent
The removal of the election officials is likely to raise alarm about the White House’s potential interference in the upcoming midterms. President Donald Trump has repeatedly boosted false claims about various elections won by Democratic candidates. Most recently the president baselessly claimed that Democrats were trying to “steal” the California primaries from two GOP candidates, Pratt and the GOP Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton. Hilton went on to progress to the midterms alongside Democratic candidate Xavier Beccara, but Pratt came third and failed to progress in the LA Mayoral race. Without sharing any evidence to back his allegations, Trump attacks “very late and massive numbers of” mail-in ballots, echoing his long-time opposition to voting by mail and false claims he has made about the 2020 elections. The president then claimed the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles was investigating the voting process. The president has also continued to falsely claim that he won the 2020 presidential elections and pushed conspiracy theories about voting machines and voter fraud.
further reading
Trump fires Election Assistance Commission leaders (CNN)
Trump ousts remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission ahead of midterms (NBC News)
