civics: Our three part system and governance
Over the past century the Congress has created a whole series of quasi-independent boards and commission to carry out a variety of hybrid functions on the basis that the areas in which they operate are specialized, and appointed board members/commissioners with expertise in these areas are best able to carry forward the intentions of Congress. This has spawned the attack of the three and four letter agencies on the Executive Branch — FTC, SEC, ICC, NLRB, FCC, MSPB, etc. Some have a limited connection to a traditional Executive Branch Department, but Congress designed them to operate largely independent from the Department. Others, by design, are independent of any other Department.
But who do the heads of these agencies work for? The Trump Administration is flexing its own lawfare muscles to argue that the heads of these boards/commissions/agencies/offices, where they wield executive power to enforce the law, work for the President. Because they wield power that is derived from the President, they cannot do so without being accountable for their conduct to the President. The Trump Administration is arguing it is a separation of powers violation for Congress to limit a President’s ability to remove them from office, i.e., stop them from asserting the executive power they derive only from him.
