roving commission

noun

1. authority or power given in a general area, without precisely defined terms of reference

Example Sentences

“Federal courts do not possess a roving commission to publicly opine on every legal question,” all the conservatives but Justice Clarence Thomas pronounced just two years ago.

From Washington Post

“The judiciary doesn’t sit as a roving commission to rule on the legality of either Congress’s enactments or the executive’s implementation of those enactments,” U.S. solicitor general Elizabeth B. Prelogar pointed out.

From Washington Post

There you have it: The Fed, having slipped the leash of its primary job — to preserve the currency as a store of value — now claims a roving commission to do whatever it wants.

From Washington Post

The judge pointed out that the state tried to disclaim responsibility for the law by allowing private individuals to be “deputized as enforcers” with a “roving commission to enforce the State’s abortion laws.”

From Los Angeles Times

Prosecutors shouldn’t have a roving commission to comb through all the outrages of the Trump administration in search of a fact pattern that fits the criminal code, and that’s a risk.

From Washington Post