Class and Professor,

The fourth branch of government has gotten out of hand.  They are unconstitutional and should never have been instituted. The perfect example is the Environmental Protection Agency.  The EPA like many fourth branch agencies issue rulings that have the effect of law.  The unelected administrators of these agencies put regulations in place that should be voted on by the United States Congress.  Congress deflects its duties to Americans by allowing these agencies to continue their Unconstitutional work.

In their July 2022 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, SCOTUS in a 6-3 ruling held that the EPA did not have authority to issue the aggressive Clean Power Plan.  In effect, the EPA had overstepped its authority in issuing regulations to existing powerplants.

The EPA is not the only agency with overstepping problems.  The Food and Drug Administration regularly issues regulations that interfere with issues inside of one state when the government haws no authority to do so.  The Securities and Exchange Commission has a different set of problems.  The put people in prison for small infractions while letting high-level politicians like the Speaker of the US House of Representatives walk free after she and her husband have made tens of millions of dollars on inside information that she made as Speaker.

These agencies pass regulations that have the effect of law, they enforce those regulations, and they hold hearings to discuss the legality, purpose, and scope of the regulations.  That in effect makes them function as the three branches of government.  The United States Constitution expressly separates these functions three parts of the government and provides no other way to make these actions happen.

https://www.naag.org/attorney-general-journal/opinion-west-virginia-v-epa-20-1530/

https://nypost.com/2022/07/23/nancy-and-paul-pelosi-are-trading-large-with-a-wealth-of-hypocrisy/

– Jason Rhyne