Trump v. Slaughter · ¶66

Humphrey’s has been difficult to make sense of from the start. “[O]nly by blind feats of definition” could the Court transform powers that are quintessentially executive—investigative and prosecutorial alike—into nonexecutive “quasi-legislative” and “quasi-judicial” functions. P. Strauss, The Places of Agencies in Government, 84 Colum. L. Rev. 573, 625 (1984). As Justice Jackson memorably put it, Humphrey’s “retreat to the qualifying ‘quasi’ is implicit with confession that all recognized classifications have broken down, and ‘quasi’ is a smooth cover which we draw over our confusion as we might use a counterpane to conceal a disordered bed.” FTC v. Ruberoid Co., 343 U. S. 470, 487– 488 (1952) (dissenting opinion). When an agency “executes” a congressional mandate against private parties, it exercises executive power—no ifs, ands, or quasis about it.

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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