On the Docket: Independent Agencies

Location

• ,
• Tuesday, December 1, 2020 12:00 pm

Description

For the second time this year, the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of an independent federal agency headed by a single director. In Collins v. Mnuchin, slated for oral argument December 9th, the Court is set to decide whether the Federal Housing Finance Authority’s (FHFA) structure is constitutional and whether to strike down the unprecedented “net worth sweep” of 100 percent of the profits from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s private shareholders, which other lawsuits have characterized as an unconstitutional “taking.”

At stake is the future of the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, property rights, and the legitimacy of agencies insulated from presidential control and the administrative state writ large.

Join CEI for an online discussion about the major issues of the case with one of the most cited law professors in the U.S., Richard A. Epstein, whose seminal book Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain, will play a central role in this decision. He will be joined in conversation by CEI Senior Fellow and finance expert John Berlau, Attorney Devin Watkins, and President Kent Lassman.

Speakers

Richard Epstein

Author

Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain

John Berlau

Devin Watkins

Kent Lassman