The order requires “so-called independent regulatory agencies” to align their proposed regulations, legal interpretations, expenditures, and priorities with the White House.

On February 18, 2025, as part of his promise to reform the administrative state, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies” (the Order). The Order asserts broad presidential authority to supervise and control all officials within the executive branch, relying on the Constitution’s vesting of executive power in the president as well as the president’s constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws.

The core purpose of the Order is to make clear that the president’s authority extends not merely to traditional Cabinet departments and other executive agencies, but also to agencies that Congress has insulated from direct presidential control by statute. The Order refers to this latter group of agencies as “so-called independent regulatory agencies.” They include many of the agencies tasked with regulating the nation’s financial, labor, competition, communications, energy, and election affairs. The Order does not apply to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or to the Federal Open Market Committee in their conduct of monetary policy, but it does apply to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in connection with its supervision and regulation of financial institutions.

The Order makes clear that all executive departments and agencies — including independent agencies — must submit draft regulations to the White House for review and cannot take positions on questions of law that contravene the interpretations of the attorney general and president. “These agencies issue rules and regulations that cost billions of dollars and implicate some of the most controversial policy matters, and they do so without the review of the democratically elected President,” the fact sheet states.

The Order also makes clear that the White House will establish performance standards for independent agency heads, regularly review independent agencies’ obligations and strategic plans for consistency with the president’s policies and priorities, and adjust agencies’ resource apportionments accordingly. Such adjustments to apportionments may prohibit the agencies from expending appropriations on particular activities, functions, and projects.

The Order states that the president’s and attorney general’s opinions on questions of law are controlling on all executive branch employees in the conduct of their official duties, including with respect to regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation. The Order prohibits executive branch employees from advancing legal interpretations that contravene the president’s or attorney general’s opinion on a matter of law. It does not provide for a process of approval whereby the president and attorney general review agency legal interpretations in advance. Rather, the Order imposes additional obligations for agency chairs to regularly coordinate with the White House.

The Order reflects a bold claim of presidential power under the Constitution and a challenge to the traditional legal independence of agencies that were structured by Congress to be insulated from direct presidential control. The Order reinforces recent presidential actions terminating the heads of various independent agencies and asserting that statutory limits on the president’s removal authority are unconstitutional. We expect many aspects of the Order to result in litigation.