WashU Law Professor Andrea Katz was cited by Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissenting opinion in the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Slaughter, a major separation-of-powers case examining the President’s authority to remove leaders of independent federal agencies.
Justice Sotomayor cited Professor Katz’s 2023 Columbia Law Review article, Becoming the Administrator-in-Chief, co-authored with Noah Rosenblum, Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. The article examines how historical understandings of presidential authority have evolved and challenges longstanding assumptions about the Constitution’s original allocation of executive power.
In addition to her scholarship, Katz and Jonathan Gienapp, Associate Professor of History and Law at Stanford University, filed an amicus brief in Trump v. Slaughter. Their brief drew on historical evidence to argue that the Constitution’s original meaning does not support an unrestricted presidential removal power and that early American practice reflected a more nuanced understanding of executive authority.
Katz joined the WashU Law faculty in 2020 and teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, administrative law, legal history, and federal courts. Her scholarship explores the development of executive power, the structure of American government, and the historical foundations of constitutional doctrine. Her work has appeared in leading law reviews and has influenced contemporary debates over presidential authority and the administrative state.
WashU Law congratulates Professor Katz on this exceptional recognition and the lasting impact of her work.
