At-will employment is not just about public service competence - it is also about protecting democracy.
In the Slaughter arguments, Kavanaugh said: “I think broad delegations to unaccountable independent agencies raise enormous constitutional and real-world problems for individual liberty.”
Well...

There is currently a push to move to at-will public employment, based on the claim that some states did this, and the results don't seem too bad. I think a) the evidence is just not great, and b) look closely, there are states where changes resulted in discrimination and political retribution.

We don't have to guess how an at-will public employment system will be used under Trump, because we have a de facto at-will system already in place.
Under that system, here are some of the reasons you can be fired from the federal government:
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/at-will-wh...

In the hearing on the Slaughter case, Justice Sotomayor noted that “Neither King, not parliament, not prime ministers ever had an unqualified removal power” but that is what unitary executive would grant.
Bears repeating how novel and radical this theory is:
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/at-will-wh...

But who is Brett Kavanaugh accountable to? I wonder.

Gorsuch: perhaps Congress has delegated some legislative power to these agencies. Maybe this Court has taken a hands-off approach through intelligible principle doctrine. Is the answer to re-invigorate that doctrine? Is the water warm?

(huh?)

Sauer keeps saying, we are not challenging that!

Kagan says: yeah maybe not for now! But your theory of the case would entail challenges to all kinds of protections for all kinds of people!

Kagan: so you want the MSPB, NLRB to go down despite their judicial functions....what about inferior officers? Many kinds of inferior officers wielding exec. power all over the place...and employees are too!

[Kagan really emphasizing the slippery slope here.]

Kagan: "but if you take your logic at face value, it seems to include a great many things"...vesting clause gives "all of it" (exec power) to the president. "it does not seem there is a stopping point"

Kavanaugh: how about the Federal Reserve?

Sauer: we agree with Wilcox ruling - that Federal Reserve is "unique and distinct, sui generis". We have not challenged those....

Roberts: there's a difference between HE and Weiner - in terms of the consequences w regard to agencies. More like court of appeals of armed forces...HE may be the issue. Doesn't mean Weiner or other agencies fall with it.

(Weiner v US - 1958 - said president cannot remove officials of independent, quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial agencies)