Biden’s Justice Department is walking into a trap set by Trump appointees.//Stern // Slate

The 1935 Supreme Court ruling in Humphrey's Executor affirmed the legality of independent federal agencies.  In the course of the conservative plan to dismantle the New Deal (remember - they think Social Security is unconstitutional) Hum[hre's Executor is a central target.  A suit challenging President Biden's firing Roger Severino, a part-time unpaid member of the Administrative Conference of the U.S., aims to get the courts to embrace the unitary executive theory to effectively void all the New Deal "alphabet agencies".  Mark Joseph Stern explains. - GWC

Biden’s Justice Department is walking into a trap set by Trump appointees.

by Mark Joseph Stern// Slate

***In 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of independent agencies. But that precedent has been on conservative lawyers’ hit list for decades. If the Supreme Court overturns Humphrey’s and adopts the unitary executive theory, then many powerful agencies that have traditionally operated independently from the president—including the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission—would become mere outposts of the White House. The president could fire their leaders and replace them with cronies who will obey his orders. (Progressives tend to support Humphrey’s because it promotes less political decision-making and protects experts from partisan pressure.)

Severino’s lawsuit, which contradicts a foundational pillar of conservative legal thought, thus raises a red flag. It seems unlikely that Severino simply wants his ACUS job back, which is, after all, a part-time, unpaid position. In response to Slate’s request for comment, Severino—who now serves as a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center directing its HHS Accountability Project—declined to say whether he intended to take down Humphrey’s. Instead, he gave four other reasons behind the suit. “I want to continue making valuable contributions to ACUS, the rules governing appointments should be consistent regardless of who is in power, current case law is on my side, and I refuse to be bullied by the President,” Severino told Slate.