July 02, 2026
How Congress Can Regulate Military Promotions After Trump v. Slaughter
This article was originally published in Just Security.
Recent decisions by the Department of Defense to remove officers from military promotion lists have revealed a significant gap in the statutory framework governing military promotions. Congress has begun considering legislative responses, but the current proposals address only part of the problem. To restore transparency and accountability, Congress should reform both the statutory authority to remove officers from promotion reports and lists (10 U.S.C. §§ 618 and 629) and the separate authority to delay promotions (10 U.S.C. § 624).
If Congress wishes to preserve merit-based military promotions while respecting presidential command authority, the solution is not to eliminate executive discretion but to cabin it through clear statutory standards, procedural safeguards, and meaningful congressional oversight.
At first glance, the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. Slaughter might appear to leave Congress powerless here. That assumption is mistaken. Slaughter held that the President may fire a Federal Trade Commission commissioner at will, reasoning that for-cause removal protections are constitutionally suspect when applied to officers who exercise substantial executive power within the Executive Branch. While Slaughter certainly limits Congress’s ability to impose removal restrictions on executive officers after appointment, it leaves untouched Congress’s broad Article I authority to structure the military statutory promotion process before appointment. (Indeed, even more so when Senate confirmation is part of that appointment and, in the case of the military, promotion process.)
Read the full article in Just Security.
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