Trump v. Slaughter · ¶191

In any event, the debates from 1789 do not support the majority’s understanding of executive power. The House in 1789 did not address whether Congress could place limits on the President’s power to remove; it debated whether the President could remove officers at all without Senate consent. “[T]he great question” in 1789 “was whether the removal was to be by the President alone, or with the concurrence of the Senate.” Hennen, 13 Pet., at 259. Some, as the majority explains, believed (as Hamilton did) that the Constitution required Senate consent for all removals; another group believed that Congress could choose whether to give the Senate a say; and a third believed the Constitution prohibited all Senate involvement in the removal process (outside of impeachment). Ante, at 9–10.

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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