CONSTITUTIONAL SUBORDINATE AUTONOMY - SERVING MULTIPLE MASTERS - A NORMATIVE THEORY IN PRACTICE

This article explores Rohr's concept of constitutional subordinate aut onomy: public administrators exercising discretion to maintain the con stitutional balance of powers among the three branches. In-depth inter views with mid-level administrators representing nine federal organiza tions provide rich illustrations that reveal the usefulness and limita tions of this concept. The article concludes that although average adm inistrators may not explicitly think of their role in constitutional t erms, the concept of subordinate autonomy is relevant to examples from their careers where they have exercised discretion. Furthermore, the concept provides an important way of thinking about the role of the pu blic administrator that both legitimizes and provides a principled bas is for responding to situations involving responsiveness to multiple c onstitutional masters.