Trump’s Order Seeks to Override Authority of Independent Agencies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that would consolidate his control over agencies that Congress assigned to act independently.
The order requires the agencies to submit all draft regulations to the president before they could take effect.
It also raises questions about whether Trump is acting within his authority as president when agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission were set up by law to be independent and free of political influence.
The independent agencies traditionally are overseen by bipartisan panels with members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. They are given fixed terms and can be fired only for misconduct.
Other agencies likely to be deeply affected are the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Election Commission.
Legal scholars are saying Trump’s executive order is certain to set up a Supreme Court fight over whether the president has authority over the agencies’ decisions and leadership.
The White House says Trump’s authority rests on a broad interpretation of executive power that gives the president discretion on reducing the federal workforce, eliminating agencies and deciding how funds are spent, regardless of whether Congress approves.
The conservative interpretation is called the “unitary executive theory.” It would give the president control over all executive decisions.
Trump’s order appeared to endorse the unitary executive theory when it said, “For the federal government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people’s elected president.”
Federal courts have tried to block some of Trump’s orders for mass firings of federal employees and the freezing of funding for programs administered by agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department. Plaintiffs who sued cited “irreparable harm” if the executive orders are carried out.
Trump has largely ignored the lower court rulings, saying he will wait until the cases reach final judgment on appeal. The appeals processes could take years, perhaps lasting throughout much of Trump’s second term as president.
His executive order on Tuesday, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” shows similar scorn for the rules followed by previous administrations.
The only agency exempted from the order is the Federal Reserve Bank as it sets monetary policy.
In addition to requiring agencies to submit draft regulations to the White House, they must consult with the Trump administration on their “policies and priorities” and “strategic plans.” Their submissions then will be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.
Independent regulatory agencies should expect to alter their budgets if necessary “to advance the president’s policies and priorities,” the order says.
It also blocks agencies from independently interpreting how to apply laws. Instead, they must await decisions by the president and the attorney general, “subject to the president’s supervision and control,” the order says.
Previous Supreme Court rulings give insight into which laws will be tested as Trump’s Justice Department appeals lower court efforts to block his government downsizing.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the president could fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without a showing of misconduct.
But the court left intact a 1935 ruling in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States that said Congress could prevent the president from firing members of a commission that ran an agency, similar to the independent agencies included in Trump’s order.
Congressional Democrats say Trump’s expansive perception of his power threatens long-term damage to the government.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said last week in remarks to the American Federation of Government Employees that “the Trump administration seems to be determined to dismantle the agencies and services that government employees have dedicated their careers to. This is not a political game. These reckless decisions harm our federal employees, their families, and Americans.”
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