Trump Signs EO To Expand Influence Over FCC, FTC and SEC

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that challenges the autonomy of the country's key trade, communications, and financial regulatory bodies, potentially paving the way for a Supreme Court battle that could grant him substantially greater influence over these agencies' decisions, budgets, and leadership.

The executive order, signed at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, is the latest in a string of executive actions he has taken since resuming office, promoting a wide-ranging and contentious view of executive power.

The White House has already asserted that Trump possesses unilateral authority to significantly reduce the federal workforce, spending, and programs, and effectively dismantle entire agencies without congressional consent.

Tuesday's order further implies that Trump's authority extends to directly controlling agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which, according to legislation passed by Congress and signed by Trump's predecessors, are intended to maintain a degree of independence.

Trump has already taken additional measures to assert greater control over independent officials and agencies by dismissing more than a dozen inspectors general, replacing senior ethics officials, and removing the heads of other agencies responsible for protecting federal employees and investigating agency misconduct.

While courts have blocked or restricted the scope of some of Trump's executive actions, legal experts anticipate that the conservative-leaning Supreme Court may be receptive to expanding presidential power in at least some of these cases. The justices are currently deliberating a case concerning the extent of Trump's authority over independent agencies, and Tuesday's executive order appears certain to trigger further legal challenges.

"This executive order, unlike many others we've seen, which seem unprepared for serious scrutiny, reads as if it was meticulously crafted over an extended period," remarked Deborah Pearlstein, a constitutional scholar at Princeton University. "It is intentionally raising a significant constitutional law question that will be reviewed by the Supreme Court."

Trump and his advisors have expressed optimism that the Supreme Court, bolstered by three justices appointed by Trump, will ultimately endorse his unilateral governing approach, permanently broadening the scope of presidential authority.