Trump v. Slaughter · ¶37

Congress’s confirmation of the President’s power quickly took hold—and even gained fame as “the Decision of 1789.” “After very long debates,” Madison wrote to Jefferson, Congress had endorsed the view that “the Executive function of removal” was “vested in the President,” a decision “most consonant to the text of the Constitution” and “to the requisite responsibility and harmony in the Executive Department.” 16 Documentary History of the First Federal Congress 893 (C. Bickford, K. Bowling, H. Veit, & W. diGiacomantonio eds. 2004). Even those who opposed Congress’s decision recognized that the decision had been made. Take Representative Richard Bland Lee, who had argued that the question of who may remove officers was up to “[t]he Legislature,” as it could “create and establish offices” as it saw fit. 1 Annals of Cong. 525. After the bills had been enacted, Lee wrote that it “was…

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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