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This article explores Rohr's concept of constitutional subordinate autonomy: public administrators exercising discretion to maintain the constitutional balance of powers among the three branches. Indepth interviews with mid-level administrators representing nine federal organisations provide rich illustrations that reveal the usefulness and limitations of this concept. The article concludes that although average administrators may not explicitly think of their role in constitutional terms, the concept of subordinate autonomy is relevant to examples from their careers where they have exercised discretion. Furthermore, the thinking about the role of the public administrator that both ligitimizes and provides a Leadership Bureaucracy Public Administration Administration and Society 180718