Why Trump Can’t Just Say ‘You’re Fired’ to This Official

By Cass R. Sunstein, Bloomberg View

Republicans areputtinga great deal of pressure on President-elect Donald Trump to fire Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He should resist that pressure. Any effort to discharge Cordray would be illegal -- and it might even precipitate something close to a constitutional crisis.

Here’s the legal background. Most federal agencies count as “executive,” meaning that their heads serve at the pleasure of the president. But some agencies are “independent” -- meaning that by law, the people in charge of them can be removed only for good cause, which Congress ...