Independent Agencies: Government's Scourge or Salvation?

Abstract

This symposium invites reflection on a number of important questions concerning independence of independent regulatory agencies. Three such questions are briefly examined in this essay: First, what is nature of an independent agency? Second, why should regulatory agencies be independent? Finally, what constrains, and what ought to constrain, an agency's independence? These questions are considered against backdrop of legal debate about constitutional legitimacy of independent regulatory agencies that has been raging since Congress created first such agency a hundred years ago. The thoughts and conclusions offered in this essay draw on history and recent experience of United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission), long recognized as one of finest independent agencies.