‘Independent’ federal agencies on verge of disappearing

One of the central facets of the unitary executive theory is that the executive branch of government should operate as a single, fully coordinated entity, with all decisions (major and minor) and all appointees (major and minor) reflecting the policies of the executive— e.g., the president, the sole person elected by a vote of all the voters across the country. Many students of the Constitution believe such a view subverts the balance among the three branches of government and effectively reestablishes the monarchical government the Founding Fathers had fought to escape. Nonetheless, in its 2024 ruling in Trump v. US, the Supreme Court held that the president is not just a person—the president embodies an entire branch of government and is largely immune from accountability for conduct undertaken in the official role of president.

It’s impossible to know whether and to what degree the justices contemplated a president determined to test the outer boundaries of his power when that ruling was issued. Nonetheless, it appears the Supreme Court and lower courts are unprepared to invoke their own Constitutional authority to decide—as Justice Marshall put it—”what the law is” and are continuing to permit the executive to have a free hand to remake the authority and staffing of the executive branch.

Agency leaders face dismissal