University Professor David Driesen spoke with the Washington Post about Presidential powers, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the unitary executive theory, and Humphrey’s Executor decision that established the constitutionality of independent agencies overseen by multimember boards.
Driesen said allowing presidents to remove members of those agencies without cause could create a dangerous concentration of power, which he likened to countries such as Hungary that have slid toward authoritarianism.
Most functioning democracies have independent agencies overseeing critical sectors such as elections, the news media, banks, and law enforcement to keep them from being politicized, Driesen said. In the United States, concerns about guardrails for criminal and civil investigations have for decades given the Justice Department more independence from the White House than other Cabinet-level agencies.
“It’s very, very dangerous to operate under the unitary executive theory when you have a president with autocratic tendencies,” Driesen said. “If a president had control of prosecution, he could protect his friends and attack his enemies. If the president has control over the election commission, he can tilt elections in his favor. If he controls communications commissions, he can get rid of opposition media.”