The Expansion Of The Executive Bureaucracy

Since the establishment of the American presidency, the office of the executive has gradually grown from a small arm of the president into an expansive set of cabinet departments, executive-appointed agencies, and independent regulatory agencies forming the modern executive bureaucracy. Accompanying this growth in the size of the executive bureaucracy has been the expansion of the prerogative of the executive himself. This extension of the executive’s power can predominantly be explained by the theory of the unitary executive. This idea concerning the power of the executive has been a foundation for the expansion of executive jurisdiction, and has heavily contributed to the evolution and development of the executive power that we know today.
The theory finds validation in an expansive interpretation of Article II of the Constitution where it states that “the executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America”, thus granting the president a range of powers that are not specified in Article II to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” This differs from the other two vesting clauses in the Constitution in the sense that it is vesting power into a single individual, rather than a body such as Congress or the judiciary. Application of this theory is evident in the expanding power of the executive, and the extension of existing executive powers such as national security powers, executive orders, and even presidential signing statements. In the area of national security, the theory of the unitary executive would justify the president’s power to make unilateral decisions concerning the state of war the country is in, without the consent of Congress. The increasing use of executive orders is also evidence of the application of ideas rooted in the unitary executive theory because it reflects the president’s ability to unilaterally accomplish goals of the administration. Presidential signing statements are also evidence of the appropriation of the
As such, one defect of the theory has to do with the developmental process of executive power over the history of its existence, and that is once the executive is granted a power its use can then be justified by future presidents on the grounds that is was once an executive power. This is the main driving force behind the development and expansion of executive power because once one president can do something it, in a sense, becomes an instrument at the disposal of future presidents, consequently leading to an ever-expanding array of executive powers. Therefore, the modern president differs significantly from his original predecessors whom of which did not possess the powers resulting from this development. This can be a defect of the theory because it is tremendously difficult to stop this political evolution from occurring, due to its justification both from the vesting clause and the momentum of the expansion itself, thus leaving some to wonder how far the scope of the executive power will reach in the future with thoughts of despotism in mind. This leads into the next defect of the unitary theory of the executive which is its tendency to overstep the separation of powers established by the Constitution, consequently making it difficult to check certain