What is an independent agency?

An independent agency is a federal agency that operates outside the structure of the Cabinet departments and has greater insulation from presidential control than agencies in the executive departments. Independent agencies have a range of structures and varying degrees of independence from the President. Independent regulatory commissions are the most clearly independent. They include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Federal Election Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Reserve, and several others.

These agencies have several common features. They are typically led by a multi-member commission, often five or seven members, with bipartisan composition required by statute (no more than a slim majority from any one political party). Commissioners serve fixed terms, often staggered so that one or more terms expire each year, and they cannot be removed by the President except for specific causes such as misconduct or neglect of duty. The Supreme Court upheld these for-cause removal protections in Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935) for traditional independent commissions, though the Court has narrowed this protection in some recent cases such as Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2020).

Other independent agencies have a single administrator rather than a commission. Examples include the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Social Security Administration. Single-administrator independent agencies are less independent than multi-member commissions because the President can typically fire the administrator at will. Independent agencies are typically funded through annual appropriations like other agencies, with some exceptions. The Federal Reserve, for example, is largely self-funded through its own operations. Government corporations such as the United States Postal Service and Amtrak operate as separate entities with greater operational independence.

Independent agencies were created in part to insulate certain regulatory functions from short-term political pressures. Congress wanted bodies that would set monetary policy, regulate elections, supervise broadcasters, oversee securities markets, and address labor disputes based on technical expertise and law rather than presidential preference. Critics argue that independent agencies are insufficiently accountable to elected officials. Defenders argue that independence is essential to the agencies' missions. The constitutional status of independent agencies has been litigated repeatedly. Recent Supreme Court rulings have somewhat curtailed agency independence, particularly for single-administrator agencies, but the basic model of multi-member independent commissions remains intact.