Trump v. Slaughter · ¶89

With no support in the founding era as a whole, the dissent opts to skip ahead a century or two. See post, at 10– 12. “Today,” the dissent notes, “dozens of agencies are headed by commissioners or board members removable only for cause,” and “this longstanding practice” (it contends) “should be entitled to significant weight.” Post, at 11–12. We have never endorsed such a practice-makes-perfect theory of congressional power, and in fact rejected it in INS v. Chadha, 462 U. S. 919 (1983). At issue in Chadha were the nearly 300 legislative vetoes adopted by the political branches over the course of 50 years—with more and more enacted each year. See id., at 944–945. As we saw matters, however, the popularity of the congressional veto only “sharpened” our review. Id., at 944. Such “‘political inventions’” must remain subject to “the demands of the Constitution,” we said, lest the political…

slip opinion, revised 7/07/26
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