Trump v. Slaughter · ¶190

Starting where the majority starts, the debates of the First Congress over the removal process for early department heads (which culminated in the “Decision of 1789”) in no way resolve the question presented here. See ante, at 9– 11. To begin, the majority’s own theory is inconsistent. If “[t]ext and structure” already “taught that the President had to be able to remove” all of his inferiors in order to “‘be personally responsible for everything’” within the Executive Branch, ante, at 9, then it is unclear what was left for the First Congress to “decide,” much less spend days debating. The very need for a Decision of 1789 suggests that the removal question was still unanswered by 1789.

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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