Show of Hands

All of the above. 😂

The Courts. If they really understood they wouldn’t allow them to get to this state. Organizations like The Federalist Society would not be allowed to exist.

Most Americans think the president has a ton of power when it’s actually more limited than it seems

Definitely federal agencies. For example, if you think cutting government waste is “cut the budget by 40%!”, you have no idea what you’re actually talking about.

Federal agencies have no constitutional powers. They’re unelected bureaucrats.

There are only 3 branches of government.

Even the judges have a hard time understanding the courts.

Fair point.

Are federal agencies really an institution comparable to executive, legislative, and judicial? I've never really thought about them that way...more like an implementation arm of the other institutions / branches of government.

Federal agencies, unelected bureaucrats with great power over our lives.

Well, under a normal president, sure…

Way too much power has been given over to the administrative state.

The alphabet agencies make no sense to thinking individuals.

Federal Agencies.

This is simply because there are so many of them doing so many things with so little oversight that even the 10 greatest experts combined would be totally collectively clueless as to understanding the totality of it.

As it should be

I don’t think people understand any of it. That was why I taught Constitution classes.

That’s a fair instinct — and you’re mostly right.

Federal agencies aren’t a co-equal branch like Congress, the presidency, or the courts. They’re creatures of statute: created by Congress, funded by Congress, and constrained by both Congress and the courts. In that sense, they really are implementation arms.

Where people get tripped up is that agencies exercise delegated authority — rulemaking, enforcement, adjudication — which makes them feel like an independent “fourth branch,” even though constitutionally they aren’t.

So I’d say this: agencies aren’t a separate institution in theory, but they function like one in practice — and that gap between theory and practice is where a lot of public confusion (and political conflict) comes from.

😂 okay 👌 good one stat.