On the Unitary Executive Doctrine
Some of my students have been asking about the president's recent executive order, claiming unprecedented control over the bureaucracy, and, frankly, whether they should be worried that this portends the end of American democracy. The first thing to know is that the unitary executive theory, on which this executive order is based, is not completely out to lunch as a constitutional legal argument. But it is one that has not been taken seriously by the courts, nor by politicians or legal scholars, for a long time now. Here is my explanation of the history behind this. American society and economy became much more complex over the last two centuries. Congress consequently has felt the need, since the late 1800s, to pass laws and create policies that are very complicated and require a lot of bureaucracy for their implementation. Some examples of such laws and polices are those that created the FCC, the Federal Reserve, the Social Security Administration, the EPA, e...
