There has been a knot in my stomach for more than a month about the recent ruling in Slaughter — that the president can fire any “independent” agency head within the executive branch — and I haven’t been able to articulate precisely why. The majority’s reasoning was clear: The Constitution vests all executive power in the president, and the president must be able to fire agency heads to control the executive branch.
Not until drafting my piece on tariff power this week did I appreciate the simplicity of my discomfort: Fundamentally, if words have any meaning, these are not executive agencies at issue. They are legislative agencies in all but name, having been absurdly misfiled under the “executive” branch of government. Many are functionally judicial as well, as they are tasked with adjudicating the application of their own policies.
Comments