Pam Bondi's DOJ Strips Administrative Judges of Legal Shield, Tees Trump Up to Plow Through Them

The Justice Department issued a letter on Thursday stating that it has determined many restrictions on the removal of administrative law judges to be unconstitutional.

This decision follows growing frustration among officials in President Donald Trump’s administration over judicial obstacles to their executive actions.

The letter, authored by acting U.S. Solicitor General Sarah Harris and addressed to President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, asserted that the Justice Department “has concluded that the multiple layers of removal restrictions for administrative law judges” ultimately violate the Constitution.

As a result, the administration “will no longer defend” these removal restrictions in legal proceedings.

Harris referenced a 2010 Supreme Court ruling, which determined that affording “multilayer protection from removal” to executive officers “is contrary to Article II’s vesting of the executive power in the President.”

Additionally, the Justice Department holds that a federal law restricting the removal of administrative law judges “only for good cause” similarly contravenes Article II.

This statute, Harris noted, curtails “the President’s ability to remove principal executive officers, who are in turn restricted in their ability to remove inferior executive officers.”

Administrative law judges, employed by the federal government, oversee laws and regulations in areas such as banking, antitrust, immigration, and interstate commerce, according to a webpage from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

These judges differ from Article III federal judges, who preside over federal courts and hold roles explicitly recognized by the Constitution.

Harris addressed her letter to Grassley amid efforts by President Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk to limit the influence of federal agencies, particularly as they pursue cost-cutting measures through the Department of Government Efficiency.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that federal agencies do not possess the broad regulatory authority they have long asserted, as noted in a report from Reuters.

One such ruling found that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s reliance on in-house administrative law judges for enforcement decisions was unconstitutional.

Chad Mizelle, chief of staff for Attorney General Pam Bondi, shared a copy of the letter on X and stated to The New York Times that the administration is taking necessary action against “unelected and constitutionally unaccountable” administrative law judges.

“In accordance with Supreme Court precedent, the department is restoring constitutional accountability so that executive branch officials answer to the president and to the people,” he stated.

Mizelle emphasized that administrative law judges have “exercised immense power for far too long.”