William E. Humphrey: The Man Who Challenged Presidential Power

For almost 90 years, the Supreme Court has held that Congress can place limitations on the President’s power to remove officials from bipartisan commissions or boards without violating the Appointments Clause. This precedent comes from a case brought by a dismissed Federal Trade Commission chairman, a former congressman from Washington state named William E. Humphrey. Humphrey fought his purported removal by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 and prevailed, posthumously, in the Supreme Court case known as Humphrey's Executor v. United States. In 2025, Donald Trump’s purported removal of two FTC commissioners and members of other boards in 2025 are being challenged and the Supreme Court seems likely to narrow or overrule Humphrey’s Executor.

But who was the man at the center of this constitutional showdown in the 1930s? Long before his name would be a major precedent in constitutional law, Humphrey built a career as an avid Republican in the late 19th and early 20th century. He developed a strong political and personal relationship with Theodore Roosevelt that was strained by the split between Roosevelt’s progressives and more conservative Republicans aligned with Taft. After some setbacks, his career was rejuvenated with an appointment to the Federal Trade Commission. With the onset of the New Deal, Humphrey became a somewhat of an FDR-resistance hero as he clung to his office under FDR.

While there are secondary sources that focus on Humphrey’s FTC career and the circumstances of his departure from the FTC, details about his personal life and rise in Republican politics reflect original resources from archive materials and online resources.