Update on Presidential Control Over Independent Agencies

Update on Presidential Control Over Independent Agencies:

This is an update on the current Administration’s efforts to control, eliminate, or neuter“independent” agencies. Earlier this month, I counted 23 of 87 independent agencies that experienced major personnel disruptions, such as leadership removals and operational shutdowns. The spreadsheet of independent agencies with links to litigation dockets can be found here. In particular, I found:

* Sixteen (16) agencies had board members/agency heads fired;

* Five (5) agencies lacks quorums;

* Seven (7) agencies had been essentially eliminated by DOGE through mass personnel reductions; and

* Seven (7) lawsuits concerning removal of officials were active.

The most significant change In the last three weeks concerns the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). On April 28, 2025, three CPB board members received removal emails from the White House. All three of these board members are affiliated with the Democratic Party. The next day, the board members, the corporation itself, and CPB chai filed suit in federal court seeking a declaratory judgment and temporary restraining order to keep the board members in office and to prevent DOGE or other representatives of the executive branch from interfering with or controlling CPB operations. The lawsuit essentially boils down to the statutory protections given to the CPB. By statute, it is not an agency of the government and Board members cannot be removed by the President. The claim of imminent hard is based in part on the experience of the U.S. Institute of Peace. U.S. marshals took over the premises, ousted the administrators, sold off its headquarters, and essentially shuttered the entity. In this case, it’s unclear whether the Administration wants to kill off the corporation or control its programming. Conservatives have long complained about alleged bias in public broadcasting, but it’s unclear whether the Administration seeks to kill it off like they did with the Voice of America and other entities operated by the Agency for Global Media or to control its broadcasting, which is directed to Americans.

While the CPB board has nine slots, only five members have been nominated and confirmed. Removal of three of those members would leave the board with only two, both of whom are affiliated with the Republican Party. The statute governing the board requires that members of any political party cannot sit on more than five seats. The Administration would conceivably appoint another three Republicans to have a 5-0 majority.

There have been a few other changes. A reader suggested that I include the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the list. I had intentionally omitted it, because it is technically part of the Federal Reserve Board. Given its intended autonomy and the pending efforts to essentially kill it, I added it to the list at a reader’s suggestion. Early on in his Administration Trump fired the CFPB director.

There is also current litigation over the Reduction in Force (RIF) process at CFPB. The court required individualized determinations of employees’ duties and the agency’s statutory functions. The scale of the RIFs (roughly 90% of the agency) caused the DC Circuit to stay the RIFs and let the district court continue to probe.

I added the requested (forced?) resignation of the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Like other commissions, FERC members are by statute removable only for cause. I’ve been told that it is traditional for the chair to step down after a change of administration, but it is not a legal requirement.

I also added the firing of board members to the U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum, including Kamala Harris’s husband Doug. There are scores of Presidential appointees on the board, so the board itself can continue to vote on matters.

So, at this point, I count:

* Twenty (20) agencies with agency heads/board members fired (adding CPB, CFPB, FERC and USHMM);

* Five (5) agencies lack quorums (same);

* Seven (7) agencies have been DOGE’d (adding CFPB, which is in litigation);

* Eight (8) court cases over removals are active (adding CPB).