The Ultimate Triumph of the Unitary Executive
Nearly a half century ago, Ronald Reagan was elected on the promise of shrinking the federal government. Toward that end, his administration incubated a theory of presidential power that would give the president unprecedented control over all discretionary policy making within the executive branch. The new paradigm came to be known as “unitary executive theory.” Yesterday, in Trump v. Slaughter, that theory emerged triumphant. In the decision, the Supreme Court held that Article II of the Constitution guarantees a president’s power to remove members of the Federal Trade Commission—and effectively, all regulatory-commission members—for any or no reason at all. Congress, according to the Court’s 6–3 opinion, violated the separation of powers in 1914 by limiting the president’s power to fire FTC commissioners to cases of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” In the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote for the majority, the FTC “unquestionably exercises executive power, and must therefore be controlled by the Chief Executive, in whom such power is vested.” As a result, he said, Rebecca Slaughter “served …
