[ineptech]

> No to both, because nobody at SBA or USPS could permissibly do those things.

I don't see why. A specific person at the SBA is empowered to approve or deny the loan, and that person works for someone who works for someone who works for the president, right? I assume we both agree that Trump could likely get the loan approved indirectly, by ordering the SBA administrator to get it done and replacing him if he refuses. What's the difference between that, and Trump accomplishing the same thing faster via executive order, "As president I have reviewed this loan and all relevant regulations and determine that it is approved"?

For me and (despite what you say) conventional wisdom, the difference is that the SBA is empowered by statute to loan money and the president isn't. Under your interpretation, I don't think there is a difference and he really could do that. What would stop him? At least in the case of the SEC, someone might plausibly argue that he had broken a law, but I believe the criteria the SBA uses to approve loans are departmental regulations, which by your reasoning ought to be subject to the same presidential whims.

edit- I just realized that I used firing earlier as an example - "If the statute of the Dept of XYZ and says the president can fire its governing board but only on weekends, then he has to wait til Saturday" - which is probably why you brought up Myers. I don't really disagree with Myers (or Seila for that matter), but I also don't think it's very relevant to the larger question of whether creating an agency to do X is tantamount to empowering the president to personally do X.

[rayiner]

The SBA stature provides for various procedures for underwriting the loans. The executive must follow those procedures, because they relate to the substantive operation of the program and determination of private rights. So it can’t just be done by EO. But could Trump actually sit down and do all the work and make the loan? I don’t see any reason why not.

Myers happened to be about removal, but it articulated a broader principle:

> As he is charged specifically to take care that they be faithfully executed, the reasonable implication, even in the absence of express words, was that, as part of his executive power, he should select those who were to act for him under his direction in the execution of the laws.