The inspector general system is being tested like never before in the Trump era.
President Donald Trump’s campaign against the watchdogs monitoring his administration could soon get a huge boost from the Supreme Court.
In other words, a watchdog system that has operated largely on handshake agreements and tacit understandings of independence is — like many aspects of long-accepted U.S. governance — being tested like never before in the Trump era. “Everybody agrees that I have the absolute right to fire the inspector generals,” Trump told reporters after facing questions about his decision to oust State Department IG Steve Linick, who has been reviewing an array of actions by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Trump indicated he didn’t know Linick but agreed to Pompeo’s request to remove him because he was appointed to the post by former President Barack Obama.
And on Friday, House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney offered a closely related measure that would require “documented” good cause reasons to oust an inspector general. Their efforts have been cheered by advocacy groups like the Project on Government Oversight, who say protecting IGs from political interference is a crucial aspect of modern checks and balances.
Days before that, Trump issued a signing statement accompanying a massive coronavirus relief law asserting that he — not Congress — decides whether an inspector general even communicates with lawmakers. “This isn’t the first time there’s been a tango or a contretemps between IGs and the president,” said Saikrishna Prakash, a University of Virginia constitutional scholar. He noted that IGs are somewhat “anomalous” and have been described as “moles for Congress” because of their unique obligations to sit within the Executive Branch but report their findings to lawmakers.
Whether Congress can bar Trump from removing any inspector general is likely to come into focus within weeks, as the Supreme Court rules on a case over whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutional. “There are certainly ways to make such provisions more likely to survive scrutiny , but Congress needs to go in with its eyes open about the Court it’s now facing,” said Deborah Pearlstein, a Yeshiva University legal expert who advised the House on the constitutionality of its recent proxy voting decision.
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