OPINION:
This week, in response to Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s argument that the president has the power to remove top officers of independent agencies at will, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that a president’s removal power would “destroy the structure of government” and improperly deprive Congress of its power to determine that the government is best served by agencies protected from presidential control (“Supreme Court poised to grant Trump broader firing powers over independent agencies,” Web, Dec. 8). The justice should read the Constitution.
The Constitution says that “the executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States.” This language puts the president in sole charge of the executive branch, and he can’t fully exert his executive power if he can’t discharge top officers who he believes aren’t implementing his policies or following his orders.
There’s more. The Constitution requires the president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” He can’t discharge that duty unless he can control those who will execute the laws.
It’s said that the president can fire officers who are exercising executive power within an agency but can’t fire those exercising legislative or judicial powers within the agency. However you characterize them, though, they’re all executing the laws. Because they are all in the executive branch whatever their functions, if the president couldn’t fire them if they were exercising legislative or judicial functions, they couldn’t be fired by Congress or the Supreme Court either.
No matter how influential or powerful they were, nobody could fire them. That’s a sweet gig if you can get it.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
Please read our comment policy before commenting.