alt Hacker NewsThe common use of that termis to describe administrative agencies with regulatory power, independent of whether they are independent agencies; its a (hostile and derogatory reference to) bureaucracy distant from elected officials, not a theory of the positioning of independent agencies in contrast to other executive agencies.
Citation needed. My reference goes all the way back to 1937 and is specific to independent agencies.
> Almost fifty years of experience has accustomed lawyers and judges to accepting the independent regulatory commissions, in the metaphor, as a headless 'fourth branch' of government.
Source: 1984 Columbia Law article, referencing the 1937 Brownlow Committee Report. https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?art...
Also Wikipedia: "The independent administrative agencies of the United States government may also be referred to as a ‘fourth branch’." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_branch_of_government