Read the document – The New York Times

Cite as: 606 U. S.

(2025)

3

JACKSON, J., dissenting

past century, Presidents have worked with Congress―ra- ther than around it-when seeking to significantly reorgan- ize the agencies that comprise the Executive Branch.
Aside from prior wartime-specific grants of reorganiza- tion authority, Congress first gave general reorganization authority to President Hoover in the 1930s. S. Rep. No. 115–381, p. 4 (2018) (detailing history of interactions be- tween Congress and the President concerning reorganiza- tions). At that time, Congress delegated specific authority to the President to transfer agencies between departments, consolidate agencies, and change the functions of agencies. Ibid., and n. 18 (citing Legislative Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1933, §§401, 403, 47 Stat. 413).
Since then, Congress has considered similar requests for reorganization authority, and it has granted such authority (for limited time periods) to eight more Presidents, includ- ing Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Ken- nedy, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan. S. Rep. No. 115-381, at 4. Far from fully ceding to Presidents unfettered discretion to reorganize the Executive Branch, Congress has, in fact, “amended, extended, narrowed, or reactivated [its] govern- ment reorganization authority 16 times under both Repub- lican and Democratic administrations.” Ibid.
The many reorganization acts that Congress has passed since 1932 vary in the degree of discretion conferred. But all have given Congress a say before the President has im- plemented any proposed plans to reorganize agencies’ structures. Ibid. Pursuant to that process, as of the last time Congress expressly granted this reorganization au- thority, “presidents [had] submitted 126 reorganization proposals to Congress, of which 93 were implemented and 33 were affirmatively rejected by Congress.” Id., at 5.
To understand the nature of these reorganization acts, consider the last one Congress enacted. The Reorganiza- tion Act of 1984 allowed President Reagan to make signifi-