Supreme Court Review and New Mexico Lawsuit Focus on Executive Authority

Chief Justice John Roberts has successfully advanced a long-held conservative objective regarding presidential authority over federal agencies. Dating back to a 1983 memo written while serving in the Reagan administration, Roberts opposed congressional limits on the president's ability to remove officers heading independent executive agencies.

This summer, that objective materialized in Trump v. Slaughter, where the Supreme Court ruled that the president may unilaterally remove leaders of nearly all federal independent agencies. This decision effectively dismantled the remaining foundational framework of Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, a unanimous 1935 ruling that had previously protected certain agency commissioners from at-will termination by the executive.

The erosion of Humphrey's Executor occurred gradually through a trilogy of cases under Roberts' leadership. It began with the 2010 decision in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, in which the court invalidated dual-for-cause removal protections for board members using a formalist understanding of the separation of powers and Article II vesting clauses.

While the Supreme Court redefined executive power at the federal level, estate administration and legal accountability have taken center stage in New Mexico. On October 21, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a civil lawsuit against Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, who serve as co-executors of the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein.

The civil complaint alleges that Indyke and Kahn helped facilitate and conceal Epstein's sex-trafficking operation, which allegedly centered on Zorro Ranch south of Santa Fe for over two decades. Attorney General Torrez is seeking to block the co-executors from receiving a combined $75 million from Epstein's trust, aiming to direct those funds to survivors instead.

Attorneys for Indyke and Kahn categorically denied the allegations, stating that the co-executors were not complicit in any abuse, had no knowledge of criminal conduct while providing professional legal and accounting services, and were never interviewed by the attorney general before the lawsuit was filed.

Estate legal matters also intersect with federal tax regulations, as seen in recent guidance regarding inherited assets. Under Internal Revenue Code Section 1223(9), inherited stock automatically qualifies for long-term capital gains treatment regardless of the actual holding period, allowing heirs to bypass standard one-year waiting requirements.