Internal separation of powers: checking today's most dangerous branch from within.(Symposium on Executive Power)

Yale Law Journal, July, 2006 by Katyal, Neal Kumar

The standard conception of separation of powers presumes three branches with equivalent ambitions of maximizing their powers. Today, however, legislative abdication is the reigning modus operandi. Instead of bemoaning this state of affairs, this Essay asks how separation of powers can be reflected within the executive branch when that branch, not the legislature, is making much of the law today. The first-best concept of "legislature v. executive" checks and balances must be updated to contemplate second-best "executive v. executive" divisions. A critical mechanism to promote internal separation of powers is bureaucracy. Much maligned by both the political left and right, bureaucracy serves crucial functions. It creates a civil service not beholden to any particular administration...

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