Todd Phillips
@tphillips.bsky.social
Banking and administrative law. Independent policy consultant. Future Robinson College. Fellow Roosevelt Institute. Fmr CAP, FDIC, ACUS.
Does anyone know what the polling on immigration/ICE looks like for Maine likely voters?
Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d agoThis is the problem with the idea that Dems can't go on offense on immigration. It's not okay for Collins to have a clear field on TV to sell herself as a moderate on ICE. CNN has Trump 22 points underwater on this. Two other polls have Ds *tied with the GOP* on it! newrepublic.com/article/2138...
The US has apparently decided to not enforce AML/sanctions rules against banks doing business with Venezuela. This means that, although Venezuela is still sanctioned, anyone who was previously unable to get ill-gotten funds out of the country can now do so. www.fdic.gov/news/press-r...
As the Election Assistance Comm'n currently shows, presidential removal can prevent agencies from functioning by ensuring there is no one with power to execute the law. Nick and I argue that the Take Care Clause will not support such a conclusion, and encourage courts to enjoin such removals.
Nick Bednar@nicholasbednar.bsky.social · last wk.Over at @ssrn.bsky.social, @tphillips.bsky.social and I have a new essay called "A Faithful Execution Exception to Slaughter," examining whether courts should enjoin removals when they break quorums in multimember commissions. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Over at @ssrn.bsky.social, @tphillips.bsky.social and I have a new essay called "A Faithful Execution Exception to Slaughter," examining whether courts should enjoin removals when they break quorums in multimember commissions. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
A Faithful Execution Exception to Slaughter
In Trump v. Slaughter, the Supreme Court held that Article II permits a President to remove principal officers at will. Ostensibly, the removal power allows the
papers.ssrn.com
From @punchbowlnews.bsky.social: 50+ academics from across the ideological spectrum signed a letter urging Congress to restore agency independence following Trump v. Slaughter. punchbowl.news/open-letter-...
The Supreme Court greatly weakened independent agencies, but the president's power to fire their officials is not exactly the trump card it looks like. @tphillips.bsky.social on how Congress can slow the politicization of independent agencies:
The Supreme Court Broke Independent Agencies. Here’s a Way to Slow the Damage.
A crypto bill before Congress offers a chance to keep presidents from turning independent commissions into one-party instruments.
lnk.thebulwark.com
I'm up in @thebulwark.com this morning with a piece (1) arguing that quorum requirements are an opportunity to push back against the Supreme Court's decision in Slaughter and (2) encouraging Senators to demand their inclusion in the forthcoming crypto bill. www.thebulwark.com/p/supreme-co...
The Supreme Court Broke Independent Agencies. Here’s a Way to Slow the Damage.
A crypto bill before Congress offers a chance to keep presidents from turning independent commissions into one-party instruments.
thebulwark.com
I'm up in @thebulwark.com this morning with a piece (1) arguing that quorum requirements are an opportunity to push back against the Supreme Court's decision in Slaughter and (2) encouraging Senators to demand their inclusion in the forthcoming crypto bill. www.thebulwark.com/p/supreme-co...
The Supreme Court Broke Independent Agencies. Here’s a Way to Slow the Damage.
A crypto bill before Congress offers a chance to keep presidents from turning independent commissions into one-party instruments.
thebulwark.com
In this Lawfare post, Nick and I argue that the Take Care Clause should be read as prohibiting the president from stopping the law from being executed.
Lawfare@lawfaremedia.org · 4w agoYesterday, President Trump removed or forced out all three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission. @nicholasbednar.bsky.social and @tphillips.bsky.social argue that these firings exceed the president’s removal power under the Take Care Clause of the Constitution.
Over at @lawfaremedia.org, @tphillips.bsky.social and I discuss the relationship between the removal power and the President's obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed in the context of the recent firings at the EAC. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/fait...
Faithful Execution and the Removal Power
President Trump is exercising his removal power in ways that defeat his duty to faithfully execute the law.
lawfaremedia.org
Nick Bednar@nicholasbednar.bsky.social · 4w ago@tphillips.bsky.social and I recently wrote about this issue. We also drafted an amicus brief that touched on it in Slaughter. As far as we are concerned, Slaughter did not resolve the conflict between the Take Care Clause and the removal power. We'll post an update on @lawfaremedia.org shortly.
@tphillips.bsky.social and I recently wrote about this issue. We also drafted an amicus brief that touched on it in Slaughter. As far as we are concerned, Slaughter did not resolve the conflict between the Take Care Clause and the removal power. We'll post an update on @lawfaremedia.org shortly.
Sam Bagenstos@sbagen.bsky.social · 4w agoArticle II of the Constitution gives the President the duty ("he shall") to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." This is the opposite of that. Even if SCOTUS is right that he can fire agency heads for cause, SCOTUS didn't say he can shut down an agency created by Congress.
The Democrats should challenge their removal on the grounds that preventing an agency from functioning is not taking care that the law is faithfully executed.
Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 4w ago#ELB: BREAKING: “Trump fires all Election Assistance Commission members, leaving agency unable to act” (This is going to be a BFD if Trump Tries to Assert the EAC’s Powers over the Federal Voter Registration Form) https://electionlawblog.org/?p=157199
I really do think that there needs to be a movement--every bit as sustained and well-organized as the movement leading to Slaughter--to invigorate the positive requirements of the Take Care Clause of Article II. It's sitting there in plain sight and it means what it says.
Todd Phillips@tphillips.bsky.social · 4w ago@nicholasbednar.bsky.social and I raised the Vacancies Act issue in an amicus brief. We were ignored. I think the answer is that firing officials such that the agency cannot function is not taking care that the law is faithfully executed, and should be undone, regardless of Slaughter.
I'd love to know how the FTC thinks large language models are created.
Ann M. Lipton@annmlipton.bsky.social · last mo.oh ffs www.law360.com/colorado/art...
Hey @kexelchabot.bsky.social, this seems like an ahistoric reading of these laws, right? The president couldn't fire the CJ or VP, but could remove them from their positions on the sinking fund commission? What?
With the Slaughter opinion today, we need to figure out whether we still believe in agency independence. Here's my argument from last year that independence is a progressive value in itself, and a call to scholars and policymakers about how to defend it: democracyjournal.org/arguments/am...
America Needs Independent Regulators
A future Democratic President will be tempted to use power like Trump. That would be a mistake.
democracyjournal.org
There are two ways to read this: The civil service is gone, or Slaughter is just a sloppy opinion by a Supreme Court on a mission.
Nick Bednar@nicholasbednar.bsky.social · last mo.One early comment: I am VERY concerned with the fact that the majority is seemingly not delineating between principal officers, inferior officers, or employees. (I've read the syllabus, I'm on page 5, and I did a quick CTRL-F). I don't know WHAT that means yet, but it can't be good.
The Cook and Slaughter opinions, released together, show just how political the Supreme Court is. As Kavanaugh's concurrence in Cook makes clear, the Court treats the Federal Reserve as special for no reason other than its own policy preference.
If you'd like to learn about how a stablecoin issuer's choice of charter affects how it'll be treated in insolvency, I have a blog post on the topic. www.klaros.com/post/insolve...
Insolvency for Payment Stablecoin Issuers
This is the first in a series of blog posts investigating the GENIUS Act’s insolvency provisions and offering considerations for those interested in issuing payment stablecoins.By Doug Landy & Todd Ph...
klaros.com
I spoke with the AP about how crazy it is that George Santos may have engaged in insider trading / market manipulation on contracts about himself on Kalshi. Contracts about whether someone will attend the SOTU are straight-up gambling. apnews.com/article/geor...
Hey professors who advise on student notes, here's a topic idea: Before the 20th century, what were the laws applicable to redeeming bank notes, and is there applicability to stablecoins today? My sense is that anyone could redeem notes, but that's not the case for stablecoins.
I was on @mprnews.org talking about--what else--prediction markets. Minnesota's legislature passed an anti-PM bill that the governor is likely to soon sign. What will happen then? Lawsuits. www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...
Passage of Minnesota prediction market ban sets stage for likely lawsuits
Minnesota lawmakers Tuesday passed a bill banning prediction markets from the state. If it’s signed into law, it will likely face legal challenges, as courts around the country weigh what counts as ga...
mprnews.org
Oh boy! Do @tphillips.bsky.social and I have an article for everyone about the recent mischievousness surrounding quorums. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Commission Quorums
Multimember commissions are a central feature of the modern administrative state. Yet a growing number have lost their legal authority to function—not through s
papers.ssrn.com
Josh Block@joshablock.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe Fifth Circuit seems poised to effectively invalidate the entire 2021-22 Congress based on the quorum clause. www.courthousenews.com/fifth-circui...
How does the crypto industry expect they'll be able to get Democratic votes in the Senate for CLARITY if they're proposing that they can list contracts that are susceptible to manipulation?! Link: www.politico.com/news/2026/05...
What I find fascinating about this is that the weirdness is (largely) limited to JUST the first page. The rest (largely) reads like a normal brief. It seems like the first page was gussied-up for public consuption.
Scott MacFarlane@macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 3mo agoOVERNIGHT: Trump Admin files latest court motion in support of White House ballroom It reads like a Trump Truth Social post, with random capitalization, accusations the plaintiffs are "very bad for our country", suffer "Trump Derangement Syndrome", etc storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
I see two big lingering questions: 1) Will Jerome Powell stay on the Board after Warsh is confirmed? 2) If Powell stays on, do the other governors treat him as the de facto chair of the Board and FOMC (or even vote him as de jure chair of the FOMC)?
NBC News@nbcnews.com · 3mo agoTillis' announcement comes after the Department of Justice dropped an investigation into current Fed chair Jerome Powell.
As I told @politico.com, Kevin Warsh's view that Fed governors are independent for monetary policy but not bank regulation doesn't work. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
