White House invokes Supreme Court ruling on firings
President Trump relieved the remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on July 9, 2026, removing Democratic commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, while Republican Commissioner Christy McCormick resigned her position. A fourth commissioner, Republican Don Palmer, had already departed earlier in the year.
The White House, in a statement issued to an association of state election officials, said the president “reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so.”
The Slaughter decision, issued by the U.S. Supreme Court in late June, ruled that a president has a freer hand to remove members of independent federal agencies.
The Election Assistance Commission was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The agency certifies voting systems, develops election administration guidelines for state and local officials, and maintains the federal voter registration form, among other duties. Congress structured the EAC as a bipartisan agency, stipulating that no more than two of its four commissioners may belong to the same party, and requiring Senate confirmation for all nominees.
The dismissals come as Trump has pursued a series of executive orders and federal agency actions affecting voting rules. The president issued a 2025 executive order calling on the EAC to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form. Federal judges have blocked that order’s main provisions, ruling they exceed a president’s constitutional authority.
California Sen. Alex Padilla and New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking Democrats on committees with election jurisdiction, issued a joint statement condemning the removals.
“President Trump is trying to dismantle yet another independent guardrail of our democracy designed to keep elections fair and secure,” they said. “Purging commissioners just months before the midterm elections and further gutting support for our state and local elections officials is a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable more unlawful and dangerous election interference.”
Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, said in his own statement that the dismissals “are deeply concerning in light of President Trump’s relentless efforts to try to interfere in elections.”
“Congress deliberately structured the Election Assistance Commission as a bipartisan agency to help states administer free, fair, and secure elections,” Waldman said. “These removals leave the agency without leadership and unable to carry out its major responsibilities.”
A spokesperson for the EAC did not respond to a request for comment.