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INTRODUCTION 947 I. EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCY DESIGN 957 A. Independent "Aencies" 957 B. Identifying Delegations 968 II. FINDINGS 972 A. Delegators and Dekgatees 972 B. Trends 978 1. Initial Delegations [...], Independent agencies are in the judicial crosshairs. Scholars criticize their efficacy and puzzle over how to define their form. By and large, this attention has focused on the top of the agency hierarchy, namely, the extent to which agency heads are insulated from presidential control. What this perspective misses, however, is that power is also exercised by tenure-protected civil servants below. This phenomenon exists not because Congress has delegated them authority, but because executive branch actors have. Consequently, there exists another species of independent agency that requires a reckoning: call them "submerged independent agencies." These entities are "agencies" because they wield discretionary governmental authority. They are "independent" because they are headed by career staff removable only for cause. And they are "submerged" in that they operate within the lower echelons of bureaucracy while remaining relatively unknown--sometimes even to agency heads themselves. This Article introduces the concept of submerged independent agencies, sheds light on their scope, and reflects upon their normative implications. Using over forty years of data drawn from the Federal Register, the analysis reveals that when political appointees delegate their statutory authority, the majority of these powers go to civil servants rather than fellow appointees. Once granted, sub delegations are rarely revoked. This behavior appears to be driven by strategic political considerations. Most notably, sub delegations to civil servants in executive agencies occur more frequently before presidential transitions, perhaps indicating an effort to entrench preferences. In addition, subdelegations may be less common during periods of divided party control between the President and the House. This behavior may reflect an attempt to avoid provoking congressional ire by reassigning powers that Congress had bestowed on others. These findings raise several legal and normative concerns. Many submerged independent agencies are vulnerable to constitutional challenge and raise difficult statutory questions. Whether the phenomenon is ultimately desirable for the administrative state is an open question. On the one hand, subdelegations raise the prospect of agency burrowing and entrenchment, and thus diminish political accountability. On the other hand, they can foster expertise and reduce ossification by dispersing decisionmaking authority within an agency. Accordingly, we consider various institutional mechanisms to help political actors navigate these tradeoffs, such as processes for reviewing actions taken pursuant to delegated authority, regular sunsets of such authority, and a more robust process of revisiting subdelegations during presidential transitions.

Prominent judges and scholars have long challenged the use of legislative history in statutory interpretation. Critics point to the privileged role that supposedly unrepresentative committee chairs play in the production of legislative history and a perceived inability to aggregate individual lawmakers’ intentions. These features, the argument goes, cast doubt on the reliability of committee reports, floor speeches, and the like as windows into congressional intent. This critique even comes with a pithy framing: using legislative history to interpret statutes is misguided because “Congress is a ‘they,’ not an ‘it.’” This widely adopted expression, although appropriate in previous congressional epochs, no longer reflects reality. Drawing on analysis of nine decades of congressional data, a detailed accounting of organizational changes on Capitol Hill, and case studies of bills passed in different eras, this Article synthesizes a set of developments that, taken together, greatly improve the signal quality of legislative documents. In brief, producers of legislative history in the contemporary Congress operate as agents of cohesive coalitions; the majority party selects them for these roles based on their orthodoxy, then decides to engage them to draft some bills and sideline them for others. In light of these developments, it is time for courts to inter the widespread view that legislative history cannot shed light on an enacting coalition’s collective will. In its place, this Article presents a new paradigm: when determining whether to consult legislative history, judges must consider Congress’s structure and procedures at the time of the relevant statute’s enactment. For laws enacted in recent decades, the conditions are such that legislative history evinces legislative intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Courts and scholars often view major financial legislation warily. One popular theory holds that Congress only legislates in this area when pushed by opportunistic activists in response to crises [...]

Bi+ individuals are at increased risk for mood and anxiety disorders compared to heterosexual and lesbian/gay individuals in part due to unique experiences of discrimination. Minority stress theory posits that associations between discrimination and adverse mental health outcomes may be stronger for those with higher identity centrality and lower identity affirmation, but few studies have tested these hypotheses. Therefore, the current study examined whether identity centrality and affirmation moderated the associations between discrimination and depression and anxiety symptoms among 715 bi+ adults. In bivariate analyses, discrimination was positively associated with depression and anxiety symptoms, whereas identity centrality and affirmation were not significantly associated with either. However, in multivariate analyses, identity centrality and affirmation were negatively associated with depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Neither identity centrality nor affirmation moderated any associations. These findings raise the question whether identity characteristics moderate associations between discrimination and mental health, but replication is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bi+ men are more likely to use alcohol and drugs than heterosexual and often gay men. The minority stress model is the predominant framework for understanding these disparities, but it is unknown whether this framework is consistent with bi+ men's perspectives. As part of an online survey, 69 bi+ young men (ages 18-29; 29% transgender) were asked why they think bisexual men are more likely to use alcohol and drugs than other men (including gay men). Responses were thematically analyzed and seven themes were identified. The first set reflect unique experiences related to their sexual orientation (bi+ discrimination, internalized bi+ stigma, and aspects of community); the second set reflect general risk factors that disproportionately affect bi+ men (trauma exposure and mental health problems); and the third set reflect motivational risk factors (to lower inhibitions and in connection with sex). These results are largely consistent with the minority stress model while shedding light on contributing factors that have received less empirical attention (e.g., to feel comfortable enough to have sex with a man). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale (LGBT‐PCMS) is a widely used measure of intersectional microaggression experiences among sexual and gender minority people of color. Although it is widely used—and increasingly used in adolescent and young adult samples—it is unknown whether the LGBT‐PCMS demonstrates similar measurement properties across subgroups of sexual and gender minority youth of color (SGMYOC). Among 4142 SGMYOC (ages 13–17) we found evidence for either partial or full scalar invariance (item loadings and intercepts were generally equal) across sexual orientation, race‐ethnicity, and gender identity groups for all three subscales. Specific patterns of invariance and noninvariance across groups, as well as implications for the use of the LGBT‐PCMS and its subscales among SGMYOC are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the next two decades, the number of caregivers is expected to climb dramatically alongside a rise in older adults, particularly sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults, yet little research has assessed differences between SGM and non-SGM care partners. Data for these analyses come from the Columbus Healthy Aging Project (N = 79). This study was designed to assess several domains of health among adults aged ≥50 years in Columbus, Ohio, US. Multivariable regression models were used to examine the likelihood of being a care partner, the SGM identity of the primary care recipient, and caregiver strain. In our sample, 227 (28.6%) participants self-identified as care partners for at least one individual. Compared to heterosexuals, gay/lesbian (aOR = 8.38; 95% CI: 5.29, 13.29) participants were more likely to be care partners but did not experience elevated caregiver strain. Bisexual individuals (aIRR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.11, 2.61) reported greater caregiver strain, while those identifying as a different sexual identity reported lower caregiver strain (aIRR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.23, 0.96). In turn, caregiver strain was reduced significantly when the care recipient identified as a member of the SGM community (aIRR = 0.67: 95% CI: 0.55, 0.80). These results suggest that SGM care partners may be at risk of unique stressors which may contribute to extant health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated longitudinal trajectories of stigma (i.e., enacted, anticipated, internalized, concealed); stress-sensitive mental health disorder symptoms (i.e., depression, social anxiety); and their associations across 8 annual assessments in a sample of 128 young gay and bisexual U.S. university students. All forms of stigma significantly decreased over time, while depressive symptoms remained stable and social anxiety symptoms significantly increased. Men from higher socioeconomic backgrounds experienced quicker reductions in anticipated stigma, compared to men from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. More self-described feminine men experienced quicker reductions in concealment, compared to more self-described masculine men. Enacted stigma demonstrated contemporaneous associations with depression and social anxiety across 8 years; and anticipated stigma and internalized stigma demonstrated contemporaneous associations with social anxiety across 8 years. Enacted stigma was more strongly associated with depressive symptoms among men who reported greater masculinity compared to those who reported greater femininity. Findings are discussed in terms of common developmental influences across early sexual orientation identity formation, including gay and bisexual young men's resilience to stigma-based stress; the transition from college; and the rapidly changing social climate surrounding sexual minority individuals. Findings suggest the need for future longitudinal examinations of stigma and mental health among sexual minorities that utilize multiple age cohorts to determine the relative contribution of cohort-specific versus common maturational factors influencing the mental health of this population.

Background: People living with mental illness (PLMI) experience disproportionately high incidence of and vulnerability to HIV. Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective and safe HIV prevention method, but data regarding prescription to PLMI are lacking. Psychiatrists may serve as important points of access for PrEP prescription for PLMI. Methods: We conducted a vignette-based study of residents in psychiatry and family medicine (FM) to assess likelihood of prescribing PrEP and assumptions about the fictional patient. Participants were randomized to one of five vignettes in which the patients' psychiatric diagnosis was varied (schizophrenia on longacting injectable or oral antipsychotic, bipolar disorder, major depression) or a control vignette without a psychiatric diagnosis. Results: A total of 439 residents participated. We found that high percentages of psychiatry (96.8%) and FM (97.4%) residents were aware of PrEP. High percentages of psychiatry (92.0%--98.1%) and FM (80.8%--100%) residents reported that PrEP was indicated for all patient conditions. Family medicine residents were more likely to prescribe PrEP to all experimental conditions than psychiatry residents. There was no difference in likelihood of prescribing to the control condition without a psychiatric diagnosis. The belief that PrEP prescription was out of scope of practice was greater among psychiatry residents. Conclusions: A majority of psychiatry residents responded that PrEP was indicated for an array of patients with psychiatric diagnoses. However, psychiatry residents were broadly less likely to prescribe PrEP to patients with these diagnoses. The high percentage of psychiatry residents who reported that PrEP was indicated for all patients suggests that additional training is needed to facilitate PrEP prescription by psychiatrists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]