Because all executive power is vested in one person — the president, all executive branch employees operate on authority delegated by the president. He can withdraw that authority (and fire the employees) at any time. To find otherwise would suggest that someone other than the president gets to decide to whom he must delegate his authority.  There is no provision in our Constitution that gives anyone else, or any other branch of government, the power to force the president to delegate his authority to anyone. Recent moves by the Supreme Court imply that the separation of powers may soon be restored and Humphrey’s Executor overturned.

The notion of so-called independent executive branch agencies stretches back to a 1935 Supreme Court decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which dealt a serious blow to the constitutional balance of power by undermining the president’s authority as granted in Article II and setting the stage for the unwieldy and unaccountable administrative state we have now.

This ruling allowed Congress to shield FTC commissioners from presidential removal and created a fourth branch of government — independent agencies that wield executive power, but do not answer to the elected leader of the Executive branch. It is well past time to reconsider this precedent and restore the president’s constitutional authority to fire Executive branch employees. This restoration of constitutional order would empower the American people to control their government at the ballot box rather than ceding it to an unelected bureaucracy.

The Humphrey’s Executor case arose when President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to remove the FTC Commissioner William Humphrey based on policy disagreements. The FTC Act of 1914 restricted removal to cases of inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance. Humphrey’s estate challenged the removal, and SCOTUS unanimously ruled that Congress could limit the president’s removal power over officers in independent agencies like the FTC, which perform quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial functions. SCOTUS effectively sanctioned the theft of Article II powers from the office of the presidency, handing them over to Congress, such that Congress could draft statutes allowing them to essentially act as puppet master using Executive branch powers outside the structure of the Constitution. This new (and unconstitutional) invention of “independent agencies” created the mess we now call the administrative state.

Article II vests “the executive Power” in the president, including the duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” This implies a unitary executive, where the president alone has full authority to oversee those who carry out federal law. By allowing Congress to insulate agency heads from removal, the Court enabled the legislative branch to encroach on executive power.

This arrangement dilutes the president’s ability to control the executive branch, undermining the constitutional design that ensures accountability to the electorate. The Constitution recognizes only three branches of government — legislative, executive, and judicial — each with distinct powers and checks. Independent agencies, like the FTC, SEC, or FCC, blend executive, legislative, and judicial roles, operating with significant autonomy from the president.

This “fourth branch” exercises rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication powers, yet its leaders are shielded from removal. Such insulation creates a bureaucratic elite, unaccountable to the president and, by extension, the American people who elect him. The Framers intended a unitary executive to prevent fragmented power and ensure democratic accountability. When the president can remove agency heads at will, he can ensure that executive actions reflect the priorities of the electorate. A president elected on a platform of deregulation, for instance, could replace agency leaders who obstruct that agenda, delivering the change voters demanded.

Under the current system, entrenched bureaucrats can resist the president’s policies, thwarting the will of the people. This dynamic fuels the growth of an administrative state that operates beyond democratic control, issuing regulations and enforcing policies that may conflict with the public’s mandate. Critics of restoring presidential removal power argue that independent agencies need insulation to function impartially, free from political pressure. They claim agencies like the FTC must remain independent to regulate complex sectors like trade or communications without partisan bias. But this argument ignores the reality that independence often shields inefficiency or ideological agendas, not impartiality. Agency heads, appointed for fixed terms, can pursue policies misaligned with the public’s will, knowing they are protected from removal. True impartiality lies in accountability to the elected president, who answers to voters every four years, not in unelected officials insulated from oversight.

The benefits for the American people are clear: a government responsive to their votes, not one run by an unaccountable fourth branch. When the president can fire agency heads who defy his agenda, voters can hold him accountable for the executive branch’s actions. If an agency overreaches or fails to deliver, the president can act swiftly to replace its leadership, and voters can judge his performance at the ballot box.

In contrast, the current system allows bureaucrats to outlast administrations, entrenching policies that lack public support. This disconnect erodes trust in government and fuels perceptions of an elite class ruling without consent.

Separation of powers demands that the executive branch remain under the president’s command. The time has come to restore the president’s constitutional authority to fire executive branch employees. By dismantling the fiction of independent agencies, we can dismantle the administrative state’s stranglehold on governance. This reform would empower the American people, ensuring that their elected president — not an unlawful fourth branch — runs the executive branch.

We must return to the Framers’ vision: a government where the people, through their chosen leader, hold the reins of power. A government by and for the people, not the entrenched bureaucrats.