The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Jan. 1, 2026

Audio coming soon

We’ve been reviewing our most important stories of 2025, and their implications for the future.  Expanded presidential powers, enabled by recent Supreme Court decisions, have eroded independent federal oversight of elections, voter data and campaign finance. It may get worse.

President Donald Trump has taken the position that he has absolute power over the personnel and actions of Congressionally-created independent federal agencies, a concept called the “unitary executive” theory.  While a president nominates heads of independent agencies, they are confirmed by the Senate, and by statute, can only be removed for QUOTE “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

Earlier this year, the President fired the chair of the Federal Election Commission Ellen Weintraub without cause, and by not nominating more commissioners, kept the agency from quorum, and oversight of federal elections and campaign finance rules.   He fired 17 “good government” inspectors general for federal agencies, with most positions kept vacant and others replaced with loyalists, further limiting oversight.   Trump’s March executive order on elections bypassed the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission to add a proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, later blocked in court. 

The outlook is not good.  December 8th, during a challenge to the firing of an FTC commissioner, the high court’s conservative majority appeared ready to override the independence of those agencies and grant the president complete control.  That decision is expected sometime in early 2026. 

We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

NPR – How Trump’s firings could upend a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling limiting his power
The White House – PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
Brennan Center for Justice – Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
American Democracy Minute – Like the FEC, the FCC Could Get Taken Over by Partisan Actors Under Executive Order 14215, Potentially Tilting the Election Playing Field
Partnership for Public Service – President Trump’s firing of inspectors general threatens government accountability and efficiency
Campaign Legal Center – Protecting America’s Independent Agencies from Presidential Overreach (Trump v. Slaughter)
American Democracy Minute – How Much Power Does the President Have Over Independent Agencies?  Trump vs. Slaughter in the SCOTUS Tests the ‘Unitary Executive” Theory
SCOTUS Blog – Court seems likely to side with Trump on president’s power to fire FTC commissioner

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProtectElections #ProtectPollWorkers

The post American Democracy in 2025:  Expansion of Presidential Powers has Already Eroded the Independence of Federal Agencies. It May Get Worse. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Dec. 9, 2025

A case before the U.S. Supreme Court December 8th tests the “unitary executive” theory – how much power the presidency has over agencies Congress designed to be “independent”.  The Federal Election Commission is one of those agencies.

Plaintiff Rebecca Slaughter was nominated by President Trump in 2018 to the Federal Trade Commission, and renominated by President Biden to serve until 2029.  Trump fired her in March 2025, not for cause, but because her positions were, QUOTE, “inconsistent with theAdministration’s priorities.” 

Congress created the FTC to be an independent agency, with 5 bipartisan commissioners staggered 7-year terms who, while appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, can only be removed for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” 

There are over 50 such independent agencies legislated by Congress, including the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Election Commission, intentionally insulated from executive branch influence. The Federal Election Commission Act stipulates that the president can remove commissioners only for QUOTE “good cause.”  

Many conservative constitutional originalists support the “Unitary Executive” theory, giving the president absolute power to hire and fire federal appointees or civil servants for any reason.  Other scholars argue even James Madison and Alexander Hamilton supported independent agencies.  

A decision is not likely until next year.  We have more at  AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Federal Trade Commission – Commissioners
American Democracy Minute – Executive Order Asserting Presidential Authority Over Independent Agencies Could Put Federal Election Oversight Under Partisan Control
Economic Policy Institute – Firing FTC Commissioners
SCOTUS Blog – Trump v. Slaughter: an explainer 
Brennan Center for Justice – Historian’s Amicus Brief in Trump v. Slaughter
NPR – Legal scholar discusses SCOTUS case on the firing of a Democratic FTC commissioner 

Groups Taking Action:

Campaign Legal Center, Protect Democracy, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #UnitaryExecutive #DonaldTrump #TrumpvSlaughter  #SCOTUS #USSupremeCourt #PresidentialPower

The post How Much Power Does the President Have Over Independent Agencies?  Trump vs. Slaughter in the SCOTUS Tests the ‘Unitary Executive” Theory  appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 6, 2025

Brian is away today, so we’re rebroadcasting a report from last July, which is particularly apt for the shattering of the norms of the presidency we’ve witnessed in the first weeks of the Trump second term.

Anti-authoritarian feelings ran high in the years before and after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, as the Declaration’s litany of complaints against the King suggests.  So it’s unlikely the founding fathers would have supported expansion of Presidential powers, and absolute immunity for “official acts.”

The July 1st opinion from the so-called “originalist” members of the U.S. Supreme Court invokes Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Papers vision for a “vigorous” and “energetic” Executive.  Without that, “the President would be chilled from taking the “bold and unhesitating action” required of an independent Executive.”   But that’s not the whole story.

Three other prominent framers of the U.S. Constitution, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and George Mason, feared the opposite, and pushed for a multiple-person executive council to decentralize power.  Ultimately they compromised,  stipulating that the President  seek “advice and consent” from the Senate for appointments and treaties. 

Constitutional Convention delegate James Wilson said during debates on the Constitution,  “Sir, we have a responsibility in the person of our President; he cannot act improperly, and hide either his negligence or inattention; he cannot roll upon any other person the weight of his criminality. He continued, “Far from being above the laws, he is amenable to them in his private character as a citizen, and in his public character by impeachment.” 

We’ve linked those documents and to the text of the Declaration of Independence  at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
National Archives – Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
U.S. Supreme Court – Trump v. United States
Library of Congress – Constitutional Convention Debate Transcripts – James Wilson
Newsweek – The Founding Fathers Didn’t Think Donald Trump Should Get Immunity Either | Opinion
University of Virginia Miller Center – IMPEACHMENT IN THE 1780S – Speech of James Iredell, North Carolina advocate for ratifying the U.S. Constitution
The Hill – Ty Cobb: Founding Fathers would be ‘weeping and stunned’ over Trump guilty verdict
Salon – Historian says Trump lawyer “deliberatively misleading” SCOTUS: Ben Franklin “would be horrified”
Washington Post – (2017) The president was never intended to be the most powerful part of government
Robert J. Reinstein, American University Law Review – (2017) The Limits of Executive Power

Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, International Refugee Assistance Project

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #July4th #FoundingFathers #IndependenceDay #PresidentialPowers #OfficialActs

The post Would the Founding Fathers Have Embraced Having Unfettered Power for the Presidency?  Not Likely. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.