The threat by President Trump to fire the Federal Reserve chairman is an example of how our entire federal system has grown into a monstrosity that is overwhelmingly unconstitutional – and almost everyone, not just President Trump, is to blame.
The Federal Reserve System is an independent regulatory agency, that murky and unaccountable fourth branch of government. As such, its members, once nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, serve whatever term is provided for in the statute creating the independent agency.
Just as the Senate cannot undo its confirmation, the president cannot undo his nomination (or the nomination of his predecessor if the appointment was made before his term began). The purpose of these agencies is to provide a federal creature that makes laws (regulations) without congressional approval and that executes laws without presidential approval.
Against the State: An ...
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Most of these agencies are not only “quasi-legislative” and “quasi-executive,” but also “quasi-judicial,” which destroys the separation of powers in a system not anywhere provided for in the Constitution. There are some safeguards – the findings of an agency can be overturned by a federal court, although the findings of an independent agency have a presumption of being right.
Why were these agencies established? This is one of the most insidious parts of the whole system: independent regulatory agencies are intended to make laws without Congress, enforce laws without the president, and judge compliance with those laws without federal courts. Most Americans have no idea just how much power has been transferred to these agencies. Consider the number and type.
The purpose of independent federal regulatory agencies is to remove decisions on important federal actions from political control. The practical effect, because of the vast number of regulations promulgated by these agencies each year, is to remove law-making from Congress and to place this power in the hands of nameless, faceless bureaucrats, lawyers, and activists who use their position to do those things that the people, if they knew, would not want.
