Could a Supreme Court case from 1886 thwart President Trump’s push to purge the bureaucracy? That’s a question after the Nine punted for now on Mr. Trump’s appeal in the case of a fired federale, Hampton Dellinger. A district judge will hear his case tomorrow. As the head of an agency, Mr. Dellinger could find his job in jeopardy. Yet countless other rank-and-file staffers could be shielded by a 19th-century precedent: United States v. Perkins.  

Our own view is that the Constitution, rightly construed, gives the president the power to hire and fire any executive branch employee. That view reflects the Framers’ understanding that it is in solely the president that the executive power is vested. The president needs “the authority to remove those who assist him in carrying out his duties,” as Chief Justice Roberts has put it. Yet the high court has drawn a constitutional line between principal and inferior officers.