07-09-2026
Employer Insight: In June 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down two decisions regarding the power of a U.S. president to fire federal employees. The Court held that the president may remove most agency staff at will. A recent piece in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) suggests that these decisions could cause employers to see less certainty and consistency in the regulated aspects of their businesses across presidencies.
Because every president can change federal agency staffing at any time, how an agency enforces its regulations could change along with those staffing changes. The HBR authors assert that agency decision-making may become “more informal and less transparent.” Presidents can assert or threaten executive privilege, national security, or other exceptions to cover staffing changes. Policy shifts from one administration to the next will likely cause dramatic changes in regulatory environments.
To some extent, changes between political administrations have been the case for some time. However, most regulatory staffing had remained the same during different political administrations, leading to some consistency and predictability; the authors foresee broader swings due to the Supreme Court decisions.
According to the HBR, long-term business investments will have to be made with “less certainty than ever” as to whether the federal government will support regulations over time. They predict that consistency across presidential administrations will disappear. The article’s authors recommend that business leaders plan accordingly, suggesting that “business agility will become even more of a competitive advantage.”