Consider removing the commission's independent litigating authority
What the document says“the President should seriously consider recommending that Congress amend FECA to remove the agency’s independent litigating authority”
Independent litigating authority lets the commission go to court in its own name rather than through the Justice Department. The chapter raises removing it as something to consider seriously rather than as a firm recommendation.
What the document actually says“the President should seriously consider recommending that Congress amend FECA to remove the agency’s independent litigating authority”
One idea is to take away the agency's power to sue on its own.
This agency can take people to court itself. The book says that power could be removed. Then the Justice Department would sue instead.
Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies
2025-02-18 · 90 FR 10447
Section 7 of Executive Order 14215 of February 18, 2025 provides that the President and the Attorney General supply authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch, that their opinions on questions of law are controlling on all employees in the conduct of their official duties, and that no employee acting in an official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes them, naming positions advanced in litigation, unless authorized by the President or in writing by the Attorney General. The same order amends the definition of agency in Executive Order 12866 to include the Federal Election Commission by name. That subordinates the legal positions the commission may take to the Attorney General's, which is the independence the passage asks the President to consider ending. The fit breaks down because the passage asks for an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act and the order asks Congress for nothing, because nothing in the order removes or mentions the commission's authority to appear in court in its own name, because section 7 governs which interpretation of law may be advanced rather than who may sue, and because section 7 speaks of employees of the executive branch without stating whether the commissioners are covered.
The order makes the top lawyer's reading of the law bind staff in court. That reins in the election board the chapter wrote about. But the chapter asked Congress to change a law, and the order asks Congress for nothing. The board can still go to court on its own.