Federal agencies

Democracy delivers by working through federal agencies. When Congress tries to solve problems and support Americans by ensuring there are scientists who monitor our food supply, economists who root out financial waste, or meteorologists who predict the next flood, it’s Congress who charges federal agencies with carrying out that work. Congress creates these agencies, funds them, and defines their missions. It has even given a subset of agencies particularly sensitive responsibilities and insulation against political interference, such as removal protections for key agency leadership. The president’s role is to faithfully execute the laws they carry out — not to unilaterally dismantle them, reorganize them, or change their core missions.

Agencies staffed by a neutral, nonpartisan, merit-based civil service are integral to a healthy democracy. Civil servants are tasked with turning laws into reality by providing the programs and services people need — no matter what political party is in power. Attempts to politicize and cut federal employees impede the government’s ability to provide critical services the American public relies on every day. Executive branch purges and attacks on the civil service are also ripped straight from the Authoritarian Playbook — a common tactic of authoritarians across the globe to ensure that the civil service is loyal to the autocrat rather than the people or laws of the country.

Dismantling agencies Congress created

When presidents have wanted to restructure the government by reorganizing federal agencies, they have obtained congressional authorization to do so. President Trump does not have the authority to restructure the government, nor has he asked Congress to grant it to him. The unconstitutional centralized effort to dramatically downsize, reorganize, and reorient several federal agencies  — entities created by Congress with specific statutory mandates — represents a fundamental challenge to the separation of powers.

Politicizing the civil service

Executive branch purges and attacks on the civil service are a common tactic of authoritarians across the globe to ensure that the civil service is loyal to the autocrat rather than the people or laws of the country. That’s because a neutral, merit-based, nonpartisan civil service upholds democratic values, including the rule of law, and often acts as a check on abuses of executive authority. Policies like Schedule P/C — which strip civil servants of job protections, making them easier to replace with political loyalists — threaten to convert the federal workforce from a public servant into a partisan instrument. And blatant efforts to politicize hiring, for example by asking job candidates to answer essay questions that probe their loyalty to the president, erode trust in the government as a neutral and fair institution. 

Capturing independent agencies

Congress structured a subset of federal agencies in a specialized way, granting the agencies vast power over sensitive areas like the economy or elections and ensuring extra legal protections against politicization or weaponization. These agencies are referred to as “independent agencies” because they are supposed to be operated for the good of the people over time, regardless of who is currently in the White House. President Trump has claimed control over these agencies, asserting the power to review and direct their rulemaking and fire certain commissioners without cause—even though Congress passed a law specifically prohibiting this kind of presidential control. Protect Democracy challenged the firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter in court, ensuring that lawlessness would be met with legal challenge.

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