U.S. Agency Experts in Shackles: The Quest for Information.

This article examines the extensive and often invisible constraints imposed by Congress, the Executive Branch, and the judiciary on U.S. regulatory agencies' ability to access critical information necessary to fulfill their statutory mandates, particularly in environmental and public health contexts. Using the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) as a case study, it highlights how procedural hurdles, limited statutory authority, budget cuts, political interference, and judicial demands collectively restrict agency expertise and discretion. These cumulative "shackles" undermine agencies' capacity to conduct independent scientific assessments and regulatory actions, raising questions about political accountability, institutional legitimacy, and the adequacy of current legal frameworks. The article calls for more empirical research to map these constraints comprehensively and to reconsider theoretical approaches to agency discretion and oversight both in the U.S. and potentially in other governance systems.