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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Long Live The King?
Feb 22, 2025
Deepak Gupta, founding principal at Gupta-Wessler LLP and a former senior counsel at the CFPB, discusses the implications of the unitary executive theory and its potential to grant unprecedented powers to the presidency. He explores the erosion of agency independence and the challenges faced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the current administration. Gupta also addresses significant upcoming legal battles, particularly regarding the firing of a key NLRB chair and the risks of an 'imperial presidency' in today's political landscape.
58:59
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Quick takeaways
- The podcast explores the implications of the heightened unitary executive theory, posing risks of dismantling independent agencies and historical governance norms.
- It highlights the historical significance of independent agencies created for specialized governance, now threatened by moves to centralize authority within the presidency.
Deep dives
The Unitary Executive Theory and Its Implications
The podcast delves into the concept of the unitary executive theory, which posits that the president holds ultimate authority over the executive branch. Recent actions, including an executive order by the president that asserts this power, have raised concerns about its implications for independent agencies. Historically, independent agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, were designed to operate without direct presidential control, ensuring expertise in policy areas vital for governance. A maximalist interpretation of this theory threatens to dismantle over a century of administrative norms, potentially undermining the checks and balances intended to limit presidential power.
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