No doubt. I’m just worried about the story the formalists might be telling each other right now.

Ha! Gotcha.

Which part of the thread seems off? Whether it’s intimidation to take action X or an attempted firing, both are efforts to impose WH will on an appointee.

. . . the agencies/appointees/functions that operate with a much lower public profile than The Fed, but which Congress nevertheless designed to operate with some measure of insulation from presidential control.

What do you think?

/fin

Such a view would allow the Court to declare removal restrictions unconstitutional while claiming that they make no difference in the real world. Powell’s ability to fend off WH involvement in monetary policy might therefore jeopardize . . . 9/?

. . . it shows that agencies/appointees/functions that deserve insulation do not need statutory protection from presidential removal. Instead, the ones that need it will be able to manifest it using politics. 8/?

But justices who prefer a strict/formalist separation-of-powers (emphasis on the “separation”) approach might come to the opposite conclusion. Namely, that because Powell and The Fed have the political juice to fend off political oversight from the President in the court of public opinion . . . 7/?

The constitutionality of these legislative blueprints for agencies is in front of the Court right now. One case involves the Fed and one involves the Federal Trade Commission. The take above implies that a win for Powell is a win for agency independence. 6/?

While several justices have expressed skepticism about the constitutionality of agency independence, they've also been squeamish about what that means for The Fed, most likely because they understand the value of limiting the President’s (indeed, any president’s) reach into monetary policy. 5/?

I think one take might be that support for Powell and The Fed demonstrates the importance of insulating certain agencies/appointees/functions from executive removal. This insulation is something Congress creates through legislation, we call it institutional design.

As of now it seems unlikely that he and The Fed will fold, and in my view this is the right result on a number of levels. 3/?

Powell seems to be winning the public battle between Trump and The Fed. Powell is doing so by invoking the Fed’s unique and important role & Powell’s personal credibility to fight for Fed independence. In response he is receiving substantial support from political & economic leaders.