A major morning drop at the Supreme Court completely reshaped the landscape of administrative law and the unitary executive theory. In this episode of Rightly Decided, Laura Beth Latimer is joined by Nathan Seltzer and Clayton Calvin to break down two blockbuster, newly released opinions: Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook.

Are independent agencies officially a thing of the past, or has SCOTUS carved out a permanent "headless fourth branch" for the Federal Reserve? Tune in for a comprehensive, originalist breakdown of how these rulings affect democratic accountability and the balance of power between Congress and the Executive.

• Trump v. Slaughter (6-3): The Supreme Court officially overrules the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, holds that the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) "for-cause" removal protections violate the Vesting Clause of Article II, restoring the president's unilateral authority to fire independent agency board members. We discuss the historical context—from the Decision of 1789 to James Wilson's views on executive unity—and what Justice Gorsuch’s powerful concurrence signals for the future of the non-delegation doctrine.

• Trump v. Cook (5-4): In a surprising shift via the shadow docket, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh cross over to side with the liberal bloc, ruling that the president cannot immediately remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Why did the court handle the Fed differently than the FTC? We unpack the critical roles of party presentation, historical national bank precedents (McCulloch v. Maryland), and the statutory procedural due process issues that triggered Justice Thomas’s solo dissent.

What happens when a Texas Supreme Court Justice walks into a podcast studio? You get an episode packed with everything from Monsters, Inc. jokes to hardcore constitutional theory.

Hosts Laura Beth Latimer and Clayton Calvin are joined by Justice James P. Sullivan (aka "Judge Sully") of the Texas Supreme Court to talk life, law, why judicial opinions don’t have to be a snooze fest, and what it takes to display judicial courage – even when it means risking an election.

Also in this episode:

• The "Judge Sully" Origin Story: How a college football injury (and hitting Drew Brees in practice) accidentally created a Texas Supreme Court Justice.
• Old School Process: Why he prefers printing hard copies and "drawing mustaches in the margins" over relying on the cloud.
• Pop Culture & The Law: Why he channels his inner Antonin Scalia to inject wit, zingers, and The Big Lebowski context into legal writing.
• The Ultimate Law Nerd Debate: Breaking down the real difference between Textualism and "Bloodthirsty Originalism."
• The Lightning Round: Why he’d keep the even-numbered Bill of Rights amendments, his favorite pre-1950 Justice, and his definitive (originalist) Star Wars take.

In this episode of Rightly Decided, the litigators from the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for the American Future begin by breaking down a major Fifth Circuit victory that struck down an 1869 federal ban on home distilling of spirits. They analyze the McNutt and Hobby Distillers Association v. U.S. Department of Justice case, dissecting standing doctrine, the limits of the taxing power, and the Necessary and Proper Clause’s role in preserving federalism.

They also highlight their litigation targeting the Hughes Amendment’s ban on post-1986 machine guns (Temple Gun Club v. Blanche), and the FinCEN case (Corley v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury) involving Treasury rules on residential real estate transfers.