With Powell, the Guardrails Are Holding: John Authers

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The decision to serve criminal subpoenas on the Federal Reserve led by Jerome Powell — which has struck as a political and economic bombshell — has had many ramifications. Naturally, the implications for independent monetary policy, and the potential for the executive branch to threaten prosecution as a disciplining tool, are profound.

But it may just provide the moment that shows the guardrails against excessive presidential power are still in place — and still work.

This seems counterintuitive, if not downright distasteful. An administration that has just seized the president of ...