[mminer237]

The Supreme Court often dismisses cases for the entire reason that constitutionally it can't make laws. That's Congress's job. It's fair to be critical of how much Congress can punt its responsibility to a 4th branch of government with little oversight.

[jameshart]

Kicking back a law because it's constitutionally not the business of government to have laws that say that, is very different than kicking back a law because while it is something upon which legislation could constitutionally be had, and the executive is acting in accordance with the law as written, the judiciary doesn't like the way in which the legislature chose to phrase how it delegated authority... that's a different story.

Executive agencies aren't a "fourth branch of government with little oversight", they're article II section 2 'departments' of the executive, established by law, and controlled by the president and appointed officers, with as much oversight as congress legislates to require, plus accountability to the courts for remaining within the bounds of their legal and constitutional authority.

[mminer237]

The FTC is not an executive department. It is an independent agency. Though nominally considered part of the executive branch, it has been delegated Congress's authority while also been given intentionally limited executive oversight/control.

Personally, I feel Congress giving its authority to the executive branch breaks constitutional separation of powers period. Could Congress grant the President autocratic authority? SCOTUS says it has to give sufficient standards to delegate authority and inconsistently says yes or no to different attempts, but really what congressional standard did the FTC use to arrive at this (admittedly good) rule?