Trump v. Slaughter · ¶29

These officers were to serve as envoys of the President, not his equals. Their very purpose, after all, was to assist him “to discharge his arduous employment,” not theirs. 4 Debates on the Constitution 109 (J. Elliot 2d ed. 1891) (J. Iredell) (emphasis added). As such, the Government’s “ministers” were required to “exercise their functions in subordination to the Executive,” whether their tasks were big or small. 2 Farrand’s Records 54 (G. Morris). Hamilton made the same point. “The persons . . . to whose immediate management” the President’s powers “are committed, ought to be considered as the assistants or deputies of the Chief Magistrate, and on this account, they ought to derive their offices from his appointment, at least from his nomination, and ought to be subject to his superintendence.” The Federalist No. 72, at 436. In so structuring the Government, the Convention “rejected a…

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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