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A-17 — Independent Agencies and Regulatory Neutrality

Generalized Institutional Concern

The constitutional and statutory position of independent agencies is increasingly unstable, while presidential control over removal, vacancies, personnel, funding, enforcement, adjudication, and reorganization may also disable institutions and mandatory functions that Congress did not design as independent but did require to operate.

Active Issues

Prior Issue Numbers

These numbers were assigned during preliminary review but did not become separate proposals. They are listed only to explain gaps in the sequence.

  • REG-004, REG-005, REG-007, REG-008 — Merged into REG-001. Operational dismantling, vacancies, funding independence, and post-doctrine constitutional design are components of its two-tier independence and continuity framework.

Issue Boundaries

  • REG-001 is the primary home for a two-tier agency-independence and functional-continuity framework. Tier One applies heightened review where Congress intended meaningful independence, using statutory structure rather than an agency label alone. Tier Two applies a narrower continuity floor where presidential action or deliberate inaction substantially and sustainably disables an ordinary executive agency or mandatory statutory function. The shared concern is practical repeal or suspension without legislation, not ordinary presidential supervision or policy disagreement.

  • REG-001 now presents two independent enactment choices. The preferred remedy is the Interbranch Review Framework Act (JUD-011) alone, whose generally applicable anti-nullification claim requires no REG-001 opt-in. The alternative is the standalone Congressional Institutional Continuity and Anti-Nullification Act, which supplies its own substantive and three-judge D.D.C. remedy without relying on JUD-011. REG-001 received an 83/100 score after internal project review (Review Ready); qualified review is next.

  • The independent-agency removal and vacancy catalog remains the Tier One source-development record. Trump v. Slaughter, Trump v. Cook, and the July 2026 Election Assistance Commission collapse are primary independence and vacancy manifestations. REG-004 and REG-005 are merged into REG-001 because operational dismantling and vacancy manipulation are mechanisms of the same anti-nullification defect.

  • HOR-018 supplies REG-001's Tier Two source-development lane for USAID, the Department of Education, reductions in force, transfers, funding freezes, program termination, and closure of operational capacity. Education-specific civil-rights or federalism questions may cross-reference A-24, A-11, and A-20; mechanism-specific personnel and funding remedies remain in CIV and FUND.

  • HOR-024 supplies a CFPB bridge manifestation for REG-001. Funding structure is one independence indicator and possible disablement mechanism within REG-001; REG-002 retains case-specific executive influence over noncriminal regulatory enforcement, while REG-006 retains rulemaking and agency legal-position control.

  • Independent funding is treated within REG-001 because it is one indicator and one potential mechanism of institutional independence or disablement, not a separate institutional failure. Constitutional design alternatives after recent removal-power doctrine remain in REG-001's proposal survey and annotations rather than occupying a separate proposal record.

  • HOR-025 was integrated into REG-002 after private litigation placed alleged political “horse trading,” promised private benefits, and regulatory contacts within potentially discoverable records. Integration does not establish corruption. REG-002 now owns the process-integrity question for particular noncriminal regulatory-enforcement matters; REG-001 applies only if later evidence shows categorical or functional disablement of neutral enforcement.

  • REG-003 owns executive control of administrative adjudication. Immigration-court removals, adjudicatory-pressure allegations, and the San Francisco court consolidation provide an initial manifestation while preserving lawful performance management, backlog reduction, and substantive immigration policymaking.

Notes

REG-001 was promoted after Trump v. Slaughter, expanded to consolidate operational, vacancy, funding, and constitutional-design components under a two-tier agency-independence and functional-continuity framework, and remains 83/100 and Review Ready after a targeted consolidation review. REG-002 is in development; REG-003 remains an active candidate, and REG-006 remains provisional. Enforcement, adjudication, and rulemaking or litigation-position controls remain separate because they may require different statutory vehicles.