WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to remove three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, who had been fired by President Donald Trump and then reinstated by a federal judge.
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The justices acted on an emergency appeal from the Justice Department, which argued that the agency is under Trump’s control and the president is free to remove commissioners without cause.
The three liberal justices dissented.
The commission helps protect consumers from dangerous products by issuing recalls, suing errant companies and more. Trump fired the three Democrats on the five-member commission in May. They were serving seven-year terms after being nominated by President Joe Biden.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox in Baltimore ruled in June that the dismissals were unlawful. Maddox sought to distinguish the commission’s role from those of other agencies where the Supreme Court has allowed firings to go forward.
A month earlier, the high court’s conservative majority declined to reinstate members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, finding that the Constitution appears to give the president the authority to fire the board members “without cause.” The three liberal justices dissented.
The administration has argued that all the agencies are under Trump’s control as the head of the executive branch.
Maddox, a Biden nominee, noted that it can be difficult to characterize the product safety commission’s functions as purely executive.
The fight over the president’s power to fire could prompt the court to consider overturning a 90-year-old Supreme Court decision known as Humphrey’s Executor. In that case from 1935, the court unanimously held that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.
The decision ushered in an era of powerful independent federal agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment discrimination, the airwaves and much else. But it has long rankled conservative legal theorists who argue the modern administrative state gets the Constitution all wrong because such agencies should answer to the president.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission was created in 1972. Its five members must maintain a partisan split, with no more than three representing the president’s party. They serve staggered terms.
That structure ensures that each president has “the opportunity to influence, but not control,” the commission, attorneys for the fired commissioners wrote in court filings. They argued the recent terminations could jeopardize the commission’s independence.
The man accused of fatally shooting two Idaho firefighters before killing himself last month had tried to join the fire department, and became angry when told he would need to go through training and testing.
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Wess Roley also tried to join the Army twice — his father was an Army veteran — but was disqualified after failing to follow through on tasks and appointments, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said Tuesday at a press conference.
The new revelations offer a more complete picture of the 20-year-old’s resentments. Officials also presented evidence suggesting the attack was premeditated — a goodbye letter to his father they found in his truck and drawings in his home that appear to show a mountain parking lot with a shotgun being fired and a person aiming a rifle at his chin.
“Tomorrow, I shall go to battle,” Roley wrote to his father. “If I survive, it would be with upmost dishonor. I bid thee farewell.” Next to his signature were two symbols that appear to be runes linked to Nazi ideology.
Roley used gas, lighters and flint to start a series of fires at Canfield Mountain on June 29 to instigate a response, then shot at firefighters who asked him to move his vehicle, Norris said. He shot at others from a tree before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the sheriff said.
‘A pure act of evil’
“This was a premeditated ambush, a pure act of evil against the people we look to for help,” Norris said.
Killed were Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52. Coeur d’Alene Fire Engineer David Tysdal, 47, was hospitalized in critical condition.
Investigators hope to learn more from Roley’s social media accounts, but it’s clear that his frustrations were growing over time, the sheriff said.
Roley tried to become a soldier in Arizona in 2023 and again last year in Hayden, Idaho, “but failed to follow through on tasks and appointments, eventually being disqualified by the U.S. Army,” Norris said.
Then, one month before the shootings, Roley went to a Coeur d’Alene fire station asking about becoming a firefighter, Norris said.
“He had the state of mind that he would be able to start that day,” Norris said. “He was told there’s a process — you have a written exam, and a physical agility and a background investigation and an oral interview. The contact became agitated and frustrated. He left there in a very frustrated and agitated state.”
Former classmate recalls shooter as aggressive
Beyond what the sheriff shared, little is known about Roley’s motivation, but Associated Press interviews and court records reveal a troubled early home life and a disconnect from schoolmates, who saw him as an aggressive young man who liked to draw bombs and use firearms.
Flowers are seen at the Fallen Heroes Plaza at Cherry Hill Park near the scene the day after a shooter ambushed and killed firefighters responding to a wildfire at Canfield Mountain Monday, June 30, 2025, in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Idaho Department of Lands firefighters inspect an ATV at a staging area near the scene the day after a shooter ambushed and killed multiple firefighters responding to a wildfire at Canfield Mountain Monday, June 30, 2025, in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
First responders honor the firefighters who were killed Sunday, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A line of wildland firefighters arrive at the scene the day after a shooter ambushed and killed multiple firefighters responding to a wildfire at Canfield Mountain Monday, June 30, 2025, in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Wildland firefighters prepare gear at a staging area near the scene the day after a shooter ambushed and killed multiple firefighters responding to a wildfire at Canfield Mountain Monday, June 30, 2025, in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
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Flowers are seen at the Fallen Heroes Plaza at Cherry Hill Park near the scene the day after a shooter ambushed and killed firefighters responding to a wildfire at Canfield Mountain Monday, June 30, 2025, in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Roley lived with his mother, Heather Caldwell-Cuchiara, and stepfather in Phoenix, Arizona, before moving to northern Idaho to live with his father, Jason Roley, in 2024.
Dieter Denen, who went to elementary, middle and high school with Roley, told the AP that Roley’s aggression and “racist” comments made classmates uncomfortable.
“He was really on edge a lot,” Denen said. Roley would say unkind or rude things to people of a different race, culture or religion, he said. “You’d kind of go, ‘what the heck — why would you say that — it’s a little messed up to say that,” he said.
Roley got in trouble for drawing a swastika in a school book, and also liked to draw bombs, planes and “military things,” Denen said. Roley also bragged about his time in Germany: “He would always tell me, ”I’m a lot more German in every way compared to you.”
Denen said he couldn’t believe it when a friend texted an article about the shootings.
“It’s just so shocking,” Denen said. “With Wess, he was definitely different when we were younger but it’s hard to think that anyone could ever do something like that.”
Mother got protection order against his father
Court records show his parents, Heather and Jason Roley, were married in San Bernardino, California, in 2008. Jason Roley served in the Army from 2007 to 2015, including two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and left the service as a staff sergeant, an Army spokesperson said.
The family lived in Grafenwöhr, Germany, home to a large U.S. Army base, from 2010 to 2015, when Wess Roley was 5 to 10 years old. Records show his mother filed for divorce after they moved to Phoenix and sought a protection order saying Jason Roley posed a threat to her and their son. Her petition said he was an alcoholic and had been arrested for assaulting her on Oct. 1, 2015.
“He was very intoxicated,” she wrote. “He was crying inconsolably saying that he was going to commit suicide. Things escalated. He punched several holes in the walls, destroyed my cell phone, pushed me to the ground.”
Jason Roley texted her after his arrest saying he was going to kill himself, she wrote. “Jason verbally threatened me by saying he would be waiting outside with a sniper rifle and burn the place down,” she wrote. “He said the only thing stopping him from going through with it was going to prison.”
‘They did not deserve this’
The judge ordered him to stay away from his wife and son and surrender any firearms. “I am not a danger to my son or anyone else,” Jason Roley responded. “The plaintiff did not tell the truth in her statement.”
The judge apparently believed her after a hearing. His order cited an act of domestic violence and said he might do it again. The protection would continue for the mother, but not their minor child.
Three years later, Jason Roley applied for a marriage license, with Sara Peterson. Their social media pages say they’re married and live in Priest River, Idaho, near Sandpoint, where Wess Roley had been living before he became homeless.
Email and phone messages seeking Jason Roley’s comment were not returned. His father, Dale Roley, wrote on Facebook that he’s the grandfather.
“I would like give my Condolence’s to all those family members who were Unfortunately Victims of yesterdays Crimes,” Dale Roley wrote. “Those good Brave Firefighters were just doing there Job they did not deserve this!”
The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday marked its upcoming 250th anniversary with the release of new commemorative stamps, including an exclusive, modernized version of the nation’s first 5-cent stamp featuring Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster general.
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The event was held at the USPS headquarters in Washington and included an appearance by the 76th postmaster general. David Steiner, a former waste management company CEO and a former board member of the shipping giant FedEx, began in his new role last week.
“For the United States Postal Service, today is a milestone 250 years in the making,” Steiner said in a statement. “These stamps will serve as a window into our shared history.”
The U.S. mail service officially turns 250 years old Saturday. Established by the Second Continental Congress in 1775, the Postal Service was launched nearly a year before the colonies declared their break from British rule. It is seen by historians as crucial to the nation’s independence and to keeping the young country unified.
Franklin was chosen as the first postmaster general because he had previously served in the British postal service for North America, including as co-Postmaster General from 1757 until 1774.
A book of 20 Franklin stamps is exclusively being sold with a commemorative 32-page booklet titled “Putting a Stamp on the American Experience.” The new Forever stamp features a redesigned, modern interpretation of an 1875 reproduction of the original 5-cent stamp released in 1847.
President George Washington was featured on the first 10-cent stamp.
The USPS has also released a commemorative sheet of 20 interconnected stamps, dubbed “250 Years of Delivering,” that portray a mail carrier making her rounds throughout a year. The stamps were illustrated by renowned cartoonist Chris Ware.
Steiner has lauded the Postal Service for its history and recently voiced support for keeping the USPS as a self-financing, independent agency of the executive branch. Last week, in a video message to employees, Steiner said he opposed the idea of privatizing the Postal Service, contrasting with comments made by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.
“I do not believe the Postal Service should be privatized or that it should become an appropriated part of the federal government,” Steiner said.
He said his goal as postmaster was to meet the agency’s “financial and service performance expectations” under the current structure.
The recent seizure of an Afghan man by masked United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Connecticut threatens not only his life but also those of future generations of American soldiers, according to veterans fighting for his release.
Zia S., who served as a translator for the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan, was granted a Chief of Mission Special Immigration Visa in 2024 and settled in Connecticut in 2025, according to his attorney, Lauren Petersen. The family of the 35-year-old husband and father of five does not want his full name shared publicly.
“The Trump administration is recategorizing legal immigrants to illegal,” said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and president of AfghanEvac, a veterans group that works to protect U.S. allies.
“They are targeting those who trusted us enough to stand by us, targeting the friends of U.S. service members. … This is about whether this country honors its word to those who risk everything. Zia worked with U.S. forces, his family was tortured by the Taliban because of that service, he entered the country legally … ,” VanDiver, who hosted a press call on the issue, said.
Zia has no criminal history, a pending green card application, a full-time job, and a wife and children in Connecticut. Zia was reporting for a routine biometrics appointment to have his fingerprints taken, Petersen said, when he was surrounded by six masked, armed ICE agents and thrown into a van. He was later taken to Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts, where he is currently being held.
“My office was contacted last week by the family,” said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, on the call. “They simply had no idea even where Zia was being held.
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“We had someone who was here legally, who had no interaction with law enforcement, who did everything they were supposed to do, who was invited to this country, escorted into this country, to now be detained and the family had no idea where he was, it was incredibly overwhelming,” Hayes said.
None of the elected officials on the call, including Hayes, in whose Connecticut district Zia and his family live, Rep. Bill Keating, in whose district Zia is being held, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who has worked for years to secure the evacuation and safety of U.S. allies in Afghanistan, had received an explanation from ICE for Zia’s arrest.
“ICE has not been engaging with me at any level of responsibility. We have reached out to them but they have been unresponsive,” Blumenthal said.
“When we tried to get answers from Homeland Security or the FBI or anyone involved, we were told, believe it or not, ‘We’re not giving you an answer,’” Keating said. “They literally said ‘We are not giving you an answer.’”
Keating said he had also reached out to Republican colleagues to ask if they were aware of what was happening with ICE. VanDiver said Zia was not the only Afghan who had aided U.S. troops to be detained by ICE.
Keating said ICE’s arrests, without explanation or due process, had been seemingly indiscriminate in his district.
“I had a person in New Bedford … that was in their automobile with their family. (ICE) smashed the windows, they pulled the person out, they were giving the name of another person. (The person arrested) said ‘That’s not me.’ It didn’t matter. They took him, they detained him, they held him,” Keating said.
Working to deliver President Donald Trump’s promise of the largest mass deportation program in history, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in late May reportedly directed ICE agents to arrest 3,000 people a day.
Hayes said the quota has deprioritized arresting violent criminals in “an attempt to raise those numbers, to save face, to shift public perception and convince the people in our communities that anyone who immigrates or comes to this country from anywhere around the world poses a danger to us.”
The resulting actions are lawless and undermine national security, she said.
“There is a fundamental erosion of trust, erosion of credibility and really a question that will be lingering when we call on our allies and our friends for help,” Hayes said. “When we need to build relationships and community, when we need literally something as simple as translation in a foreign land, will people trust the United States and does our word mean anything?”
Hayes and Blumenthal said they were working to free Zia through every means available. Blumenthal mentioned amicus briefs and ongoing legal action, as well voicing his opposition in hearings and through appropriations votes. But he said he didn’t want to make public all of their efforts.
The Department of Homeland Security is now claiming Zia “is currently under investigation for a serious criminal allegation,” which came as a surprise to Petersen.
“We have seen DHS in numerous cases over and over and over again make things up, stretch the truth, outright lie to the American people,” VanDiver said. “Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, said ‘Oh, things are great in Afghanistan, it’s perfectly safe to send people back.’ And this isn’t a partisan statement, it’s a factual statement: These people are full of s***. … They keep messing things up and we need ICE to stop trying to take the low-hanging fruit of any random brown person that they can see on the street.”
On July 18, a U.S. District Court issued a stay of removal in response to a habeas petition seeking Zia’s release. ICE is seeking extradited removal, initially claiming he was in the U.S. illegally without documents.
“The courts are our last firewall,” Petersen said. “A judge temporarily stayed his removal but he’s still in detention, he’s still hours from his family, incredibly hurt and confused about why he’s there and terrified, absolutely terrified that he’ll be sent back to Afghanistan. Zia must be released.
“His case needs to be adjudicated by the rules, the same rules that he has followed. We need Congress and all of the American public to see what’s happening before this continues happening to others.”
