The Organization of the Executive Branch


Organization



This lesson will focus on the Cabinet departments. Cabinet members serve as advisors to the President. The Secretaries of Cabinet Departments are nominated by the President and approved by a simple majority of the Senate in a process called confirmation. They serve at the pleasure of the President and may be removed for any or no reason.

The Constitution does not mention a cabinet although it states that the President may appoint executive department heads with Senate approval (and the 25th Amendment). The 25th Amendment deals with Presidential (and Vice Presidential) succession and disability. It was passed by Congress in July 1965 after considerable public debate and consideration in the House and Senate. It took about 18 months for three-quarters of the states to ratify the amendment.

Each agency has its own history and reason for existence. Some are part of the Cabinet, i.e., make up the President’s innermost circle, and some are not but perform important functions of the executive branch.


What is the difference between an agency and department?

Sometimes you will hear these terms used interchangeably, but all departments are agencies but not all agencies are departments. Executive departments are under the President’s supervision. There are 15 and defined in the statute.

The Cabinet Agencies

Title 5 of the U.S. Code “Government Organization and Employees”, Chapter 1 lists the departments as:



The President’s Cabinet is made up of the Vice President and the 15 departments listed above. The President can afford Cabinet rank to other agency heads.

The Cabinet can also include advisors to the President who are usually part of the Executive Office of the President (for example, the Chief of Staff is usually afforded Cabinet rank) but not the head of a department or agency.

Authority of the Departments and Agencies


Congress lays out the powers that are delegated to the executive. In the case of legislative agencies, Congress delegates rulemaking authority. Because the President cannot enforce and administer every law it enacts, executive agencies are needed. The enormous power of the executive agency to interpret laws and enact rules/regulations, and even adjudicate matters regarding these statutes have grown throughout our history.

Examples of Legislative agencies include the Congressional Budget Office, Government Accountability Office, and Library of Congress.

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is a federal statute that governs the procedures and practices of administrative law. The APA addresses the procedural formalities that agencies must employ when making decisions. There is a distinction made between (i)general regulations made through the process of rulemaking and (ii) case-by-case decisions made through the process of adjudication. In addition to setting forth rulemaking procedures, the APA addresses other agency actions such as the issuance of policy statements, licenses, and permits.

The APA sets standards for the quasi-judicial power of the administrative agencies. The APA also provides authority to Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) in exercising the decision-making power. This quasi-judicial power of the administrative agencies encourages quick decision makings in relatively minor or exceedingly complex disputes. The decisions of administrative agencies can be reviewed by the state or federal courts if the administrative agency does not comply with the required due processes if the parties involved are not given the opportunity for a full and fair hearing or if there is an abuse of discretion.

Usually, before suing in civil court, the parties must exhaust all appeals within the agency. Courts will also determine if the administrative agency exceeded its lawmaking or judicial power and for this purpose, the court would examine the agency’s records. This type of judicial review by the courts tends to eliminate the flexibility of the administrative agencies in resolving actions and in disputes. Therefore, to avoid this difficulty, most of the enabling statutes for administrative agencies are worded broadly to enable the administrative agencies to exercise wide discretion in decision making.

As the size of both federal and state governments expanded, the matters subsumed within administrative law expanded equally to the point where of us, whether in our personal lives or business lives, are subject to the decisions and tribunals of administrative agencies on a constant basis.

Independent agencies are part of the executive branch of government but operate with more autonomy than federal agencies headed by Cabinet members which must report directly to the president. Independent agencies are headed by individuals appointed by the President and are subject to Congressional oversight.


Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives the president the power to appoint advisors to help carry out his executive duties. George Washington was the first President to use this power.