The Supreme Court Injects Partisan Politics Into Independent Agencies

If you think that government experts should be free from political influence, then think again.

Twice this June the Supreme Court ruled that the president could exert more control over regulatory agencies, the government institutions that are as important as they sound boring.

While Congress may write laws, agencies are needed to interpret them, apply them, and fill in their gaps. Take the government's efforts to address lead poisoning. Congress passed a statute in 1971, and since then, a suite of agencies has issued regulations that keep up with the...