The US Constitution makes lawmakers democratically accountable, yet Americans are subject to thousands of rules that are issued by bureaucrats without democratic accountability.
But Who Rules the Rulemakers reviewed 2,952 final rules issued by the Department of Health and Human Services over a 17-year period.
The report found that nearly 75% of these rules are unconstitutional because they were issued by low-level officials and employees with no authority to issue rules.
The 2,094 unconstitutional rules we found have real consequences for individuals and small businesses.
Among the thousands of rules issued without democratic controls by the Food and Drug Administration were 25 rules that each had an impact of $100 million or more.
Each of the branches should act to reign in this undemocratic behavior—including striking down illegally issued rules and requiring senior appointees to take responsibility for rules issued by their agencies.
