Defend Independent Agencies: Codify Humphrey's Executor!

I am concerned that the U.S. Supreme Court recently restructured the operation of the federal government and rewrote a major principle of constitutional law. This ruling arose from President Trump's firing of Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board. These agencies, along with more than 50 others (like the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Reserve), are independent agencies established by Congress. Congressional statutes permit the removal of their leaders only for “good cause" . However, President Trump removed Wilcox for not sharing his policy preferences and Harris for no stated reason. The Supreme Court, in an unsigned order, echoed the unitary executive theory, stating that the president possesses complete authority, including removal, over all who serve within the executive branch to ensure the Laws be faithfully executed, subject only to narrow exceptions. This decision effectively ignored Humphrey's Executor v. United States, leaving its value as precedent unclear. Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, criticized this as a massive change in the law made by fiat through the shadow docket, bypassing the usual deliberative process of full briefing or oral argument. This ruling allows the president to fire the heads of any independent agency and possibly even low-level civil servants. For decades, Humphrey's Executor has been a cornerstone of constitutional law, establishing that the president does not have an illimitable power of removal over certain officials, such as the head of the Federal Trade Commission. This precedent upheld the principle that independent agencies exist to carry out congressional policy, free from the president's political pressure and purview, ensuring they are dedicated to their public mission, not the will or whims of a president. The Supreme Court’s order disregards fundamental aspects of our constitutional framework, including checks and balances, the framers' aversion toward monarchical, kinglike rule, and Congress's role in policymaking. It threatens to shift the focus of more than 50 independent agencies from serving the public interest to pleasing the president, which could profoundly affect the lives of many Americans. This has already resulted in the National Labor Relations Board being paralyzed and the Merit Systems Protection Board being hamstrung for lacking a quorum, impeding its ability to function. I urge you to codify the principles of Humphrey's Executor into law. By doing so, you will safeguard the vital independence of these agencies, uphold our system of checks and balances, and ensure that our federal government continues to serve the public interest rather than becoming susceptible to the political whims of any single president. We cannot allow this critical legal principle to be eroded by a sudden, undebated ruling that destabilizes the impartiality and effectiveness of our government.