President Donald Trump made headlines earlier this year when he attempted to fire three Democratic appointees on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

While a federal judge initially blocked the president's move, the Supreme Court is allowing him to move ahead.

Conservative majority overturns lower court's injunction

According to The Hill, America's highest judicial body granted Solicitor General D. John Sauer's request for an emergency order on Wednesday.

In doing so, six of the court's nine conservative justices voted to overturn a previous injunction which had been imposed by U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox.

Maddox, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, ruled last month that the termination of CPSC Commissioners Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. had been unlawful.

However, the Supreme Court pointed to the fact it has already permitted the president to fire members of two other independent agencies and stressed that the CPSC case was not different in "any pertinent respect."

"Although our interim orders are not conclusive as to the merits, they inform how a court should exercise its equitable discretion in like cases," the unsigned opinion read.

Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissent

That reasoning was not accepted by Justice Elena Kagan, who authored a dissent which was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The Supreme Court lets Trump fire federal product safety commissioners, liberal justices dissent https://t.co/pwyWeneN0g

— The Hill (@thehill) July 23, 2025

Kagan and her two liberal colleagues complained that in upholding Trump's actions, the majority had "negated Congress's choice of agency bipartisanship and independence."

"By means of such actions, this Court may facilitate the permanent transfer of authority, piece by piece by piece, from one branch of Government to another. Respectfully, I dissent," she wrote.

Majority rejected solicitor general's request that CPSC case be added to docket

The Hill noted that for his part, Sauer asked that the Supreme Court add the CPSC case to its normal docket so it can be adjudicated without going through the normal appeals process.

"This case illustrates that the sooner this Court resolves the merits of this application and decides foundational questions about the scope of the President’s removal authority, the better," he wrote.

While Sauer's suggestion was rejected by the majority, it did find sympathy from Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who cautioned that leaving the matter open will result in "extended uncertainty and confusion"  among lower courts.