SCOTUS Kills Independent Agencies, Expands Presidential Power

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Strict Scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The Trump administration's excessive Christian nationalist rhetoric is only building as we move toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Those most caught in the crossfire are federal workers, specifically a multi-faith group of federal employees who have filed a new lawsuit against the US. Department of Agriculture for violating the separation of church and state and the religious freedom promised in our constitution.
Our friends at Americans United for Separation of Church and State received emails from multiple USDA employees. A handful of employees reached out to say that the proselytizing Easter email sent by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rawlins to more than 100,000 USDA employees is an abuse of power that violates the separation of church and state promised in the First Amendment. They're absolutely right. I just have to remind you as we continue to think about the nation's 250th anniversary that the whole question of religious freedom is not solely about religious pluralism, about different religious sex being able to flourish in the United States. It is also a hedge against tyranny, the idea that religion provides alternative sources of values and allegiances that imbue the individual with the capacity to be skeptical when the government comes peddling its own orthodoxies. So when you think about this, it's not just about letting a million flowers bloom, it's literally about keeping limited government in place.
And the hits just keep coming from this administration, and Americans United is doing their level best to keep up the fight against Christian Nationalism. And if you want to help, head over to au.org/crooked to learn more about their work and how you can get involved.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:48)
Mr. Chief Justice, please report. It's an old joke, but when an argument against two beautiful ladies like this, they're going to have the last word.
She spoke not elegantly, but with unmistakable clarity. She said, I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.

**Kate Shaw** (2:30)
Welcome back to Strict Scrutiny. Yes, it is a two episode Monday because the Supreme Court has just decided that no matter how much power they have given to the president or maybe just this president, it is still never enough.
We are your hosts. I'm Kate Shaw.

**Leah Litman** (2:45)
I'm Leah Litman. And Melissa is currently on a plane, doing her level best to scramble here to tell John Roberts two pounds sand. So just wanted to give you a heads up in case she is able to make it and get into this recording.
We work over time because the court makes it as difficult as possible.

**Kate Shaw** (3:02)
She's personally piloting the plane to get here.

**Leah Litman** (3:04)
She did offer to do so.
And speaking of bad decisions, today we got some big bad ones, including ones that give Donald Trump the power to control agencies that have historically been independent from the president. Except, of course, the Independent Federal Reserve Board, because the economy and reasons. And if you think that's an exaggeration of the court's analysis, I think you'd be wrong because OMG, they basically admit it.

**Kate Shaw** (3:30)
And yes, we are, of course, talking about the opinions in Trump vs. Slaughter and Trump vs. Cook, where Scotus, pardon the puns, but we just can't avoid it, slaughtered its president, cooked Congress, and handed the president the power to fire the head of every independent agency and commission, ending the existence of independent agencies.
But wait, there is an important exception, and that is the Fed, because somehow the press leaves a TK in a draft that gets published, because TK insert economic reason here. That is basically the distinction the court doesn't even particularly try to offer between the big win for Trump, 6-3 in slaughter, and the loss-ish for Trump, maybe long-term win for the political fortunes of the Republican Party in Cook, 5-4.

**Leah Litman** (4:25)
Both decisions were written by noted institutionalists and maybe Civil War cosplayer and maybe on the side of the Confederacy, Chief Justice John G. Roberts. We'll explain that remark, don't worry.

**Kate Shaw** (4:36)
Andrew Johnson just jumped off the page in that opinionable way.

**Leah Litman** (4:38)
I could not believe it when I got there.

**Kate Shaw** (4:41)
We will explain. But little more kind of introductory material. First, Slaughter, as we have, I think, been already signalling, is a hugely consequential decision. It is a massive redistribution of power and sort of completion of this slow accretion of power over the federal administrative state and its vast regulatory powers into the president. And so this shift is also an enormous expansion of presidential power.