Hey, from CNN. I'm AfomaDK, with the five things you need to know for Monday, December 8th.

Well, the Supreme Court is signaling that it'll give President Donald Trump more control of government.

At issue is Trump's decision to fire Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter in March.

Today, during more than two hours of oral arguments,

the conservative justices appeared ready to back Trump's argument

that he should be able to fire members of independent agencies,

that, for nearly a century, have been protected from presidential politics.

Liberal justices warned that backing Trump could upend the federal government

as it's been known for decades.

CNN set down with former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Badoia, who was fired at the same time as slaughter, but formally resigned a few months later.

I want the folks in charge of keeping markets safe to be independent and nonpartisan.

My kids play with toys. I want those toys to be free of lead.

I want the grocery stores to be giving me good prices and not just merging with whoever to raise

prices even further knowing they have the president in their pocket. So I think there's a pretty

good counter argument that if the Supreme Court sides with the Solicitor General and sides with the President,

we do have a pretty seriously bad situation on our hands.

A decision from the court is expected before the end of June 2026.

More news coming up, including a potential lifeline for farmers struggling to make ends meet.

This episode is brought to you by Vanta.

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