Agency ‘Winners and Losers’ at Stake in Supreme Court Challenges

The Supreme Court will take up a pair of cases exploring the power of administrative agencies, a topic of renewed interest among the expanded majority of conservative justices.

The cases this week involving a federal patent appeals board and the Social Security Administration are the latest in a string of separation of powers challenges questioning how much authority agencies can wield independent from the president.

Concerns that the so-called unelected fourth branch of government, or the administrative state, has too much power over business and everyday life and that the executive branch must be able to rein in ...