In March 2025, President Trump issued a shutdown order directing several agencies created and funded by Congress to eliminate all functions not required by law. These agencies included, among others, the Minority Business Development Agency, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Congress created the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in 1947 to mediate collective bargaining disputes between employers and unions. It created the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness nearly forty years ago as part of a bipartisan effort to better coordinate national services for homeless people. And Congress established the Minority Business Development Agency in 2021—again through bipartisan legislation—to support minority businesses. The Trump administration carried out mass firings and essentially shut down all three agencies, leaving them incapable of fulfilling Congress’s mandates.

Several states whose residents relied on the agencies’ critical services challenged the administration’s actions in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The district court agreed that the administration’s actions were unlawful, granted summary judgment to the states on all their claims, and blocked the agencies from implementing Trump’s directive. The administration appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and in May 2026, the Constitutional Accountability Center filed an amicus brief supporting the states. Our brief makes two principal points.

First, Congress has the sole authority to create, restructure, and abolish federal departments and agencies. The Constitution provides that “[a]ll legislative Powers,” including the power over the existence of executive offices, “shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” It also grants Congress the exclusive power to “carr[y] into Execution” not only the “foregoing Powers,” but also “all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” The Supreme Court has held that these provisions authorize Congress to pass laws creating executive departments, agencies, and offices. Congress also has the power to restructure or abolish agencies as it finds necessary, and it has exercised this power since its earliest days.

Second, historical practice demonstrates that when Congress wants to give the President the authority to reorganize the executive branch, it does so through legislation. From 1932 to 1984, Congress gave the President reorganization authority by passing and renewing a series of laws known as the Reorganization Acts. The history of these laws demonstrates that when Congress believes that delegating its reorganization power to the President will promote efficiency in government, it knows how to make such a delegation while at the same time limiting the scope of that delegation to protect against presidential overreach.

Donald Trump is free to dislike these vital federal agencies and the work they carry out to benefit the American people. But he cannot unilaterally shut them down.