Government Shutdowns Might Get a Lot Scarier

A government shutdown like the one that might happen next week will interrupt many essential government functions. But it won’t cause a run on the banks or shake the financial system. It will not cause disruptions in the payment of Social Security or Medicare benefits.

That’s because Congress has given scores of government agencies power to independently finance themselves, reasoning that their functions are too important to be left to the uncertainties of the annual appropriations process.

But now, the constitutionality of independent agency funding is at risk in a...