Trump v. Slaughter · ¶26

The Convention was determined not to make the same mistake. See Wood 467. So when delegates objected to “unity in the Executive magistracy” as “the foetus of monarchy,” 1 Farrand’s Records 66 (E. Randolph), others could soundly reply that the concern was quite backward. “[I]nstead of being the fetus of Monarchy,” they explained, “[u]nity in the Executive” was “the best safeguard against” it—for only a “single Person” could produce the “vigor and activity” necessary to preserve the Constitution’s separation of powers, and only a “single Person” could make the office “responsibl[e]” to the people. Id., at 66, 109 (J. Wilson). “Give him an able Council and it will thwart him; a weak one and he will shelter himself under their sanction.” 2 id., at 329 (C. Pinckney). Any more than one person in charge, as James Wilson put it, “oftener serves to cover, than prevent malpractices.” 1 id., at 97.

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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