Trump Fires Remaining Election Assistance Commission Members Nine Days After Humphrey's Executor Overturned

Trump fired the two remaining Democratic members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission — Commissioners Hicks and Hovland — on July 10, 2026, nine days after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Trump v. Slaughter overturned Humphrey’s Executor and eliminated statutory removal protections for independent agency commissioners. The EAC certifies voting machines and sets federal election administration standards; its dismemberment lands four months before the November midterms.

This is distinct from, and follows, the July 9 firing of the EAC’s top four staff (2026-07-09–trump-purges-election-assistance-commission-save-act-backdoor) — that action removed the technical and operational expertise needed to certify voting systems; this action removes the commission’s actual bipartisan leadership. Together the two firings within 24 hours leave the EAC without either its senior staff or its statutorily-independent commissioners, arriving in the same window as DOJ’s criminal-prosecution threats against state election officials (2026-07-07–doj-threatens-criminal-prosecution-election-officials-50-states) and June’s dismantling of DOJ’s own election-crime oversight apparatus (2026-06-09–doj-dismantles-federal-election-oversight-before-midterms). The Humphrey’s Executor ruling (2026-06-29–scotus-overturns-humphreys-executor-presidential-firing-power) is the legal instrument that made this specific firing possible — a nine-day turnaround from precedent to use.