Trump v. Slaughter: Supreme Court Eliminates FTC Independence — EU–US DPF Under Active Commission Review

On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Trump v. Slaughter that the FTC's for-cause removal protection — which since Humphrey's Executor (1935) had prohibited presidents from removing commissioners without cause — is unconstitutional, and that officers exercising executive power must be removable by the president at will. The DPF adequacy decision (Commission Implementing Decision EU 2023/1795) relies on the FTC as the central independent enforcement authority for US companies' self-certification commitments to EU data protection standards. Within one day of the ruling, noyb chair Max Schrems formally demanded the Commission withdraw the adequacy decision, and 36 civil society organisations and academics sent a separate letter to Commissioner McGrath calling for immediate formal reassessment. The European Commission has publicly confirmed it is assessing whether the ruling affects DPF validity. DLA Piper's analysis confirms the immediate compliance consequence: the Slaughter decision must now be factored into Transfer Impact Assessments for all US transfers, and existing TIAs for US transfers should be updated. The DPF remains formally in force — Commission Implementing Decision EU 2023/1795 stays operative until the Commission repeals it or the CJEU annuls it — but the Latombe appeal (Case C-703/25 P) is already pending before the CJEU on arguments partially resting on the now-overruled assumption of FTC independence. For legal risk teams advising corporate clients: treating the DPF as a stable long-term transfer mechanism requires accepting the risk that it does not survive the CJEU appeal or a Commission suspension decision; the prudent posture is to treat Standard Contractual Clauses as the operative primary mechanism now, with the DPF as a parallel filing, not a sole basis.