Oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Monday over the president’s power to remove the commissioners of independent agencies left little doubt that its Republican-appointed justices are about to fundamentally reorder our system of government. They appear ready to eliminate most pockets of expertise and nonpartisanship that we rely on as stewards of important economic, political, scientific, and regulatory power.
They will do this, if this morning’s arguments are any indication, without grappling with the predictable and disastrous fallout, with the endpoint of their own logic, or the historical record to the contrary. Instead, the six Republican appointees appear ready to race headlong into a Trumpian future in which no agency or decision is beyond the reach of the precedent’s political cronies.
“You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor observed Monday, “and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that the government is better structured with some agencies that are independent.”
There’s not that many semi independent agencies left that aren’t under control of Trump or one of his cronies I think, the most notable being the fed. If Trump manages to take control of the fed, then trust in the dollar will take a major hit and it’s going to send the markets into a bit of a panic. But that small panic will be nothing compared to the fallout of when Trump actually starts mismanaging the Fed.
This is 100% about the Fed though, that’s why they brought the case. He wants to fire jpow and eplace him with a crypto bro.
Not just the fed I think. For example, this would also allow republicans to fully take over the fec (currently inoperative because of lack of quorum) and then use it as a weapon against their opponents, in order to win the 2026 elections. All these agencies were independent for a reason, there’s bound to be many more opportunities for abuse of power.