Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 58.0

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

7 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

None  of  the  statutes  cited  by  the  Attorney  General  ap-
pears to create an office for the Special Counsel, and espe-
cially not with the clarity typical of past statutes used for
that purpose.  See, e.g., 43 Stat. 6 (“[T]he President is fur-
ther authorized and directed to appoint . . . special counsel
who shall have charge and control of the prosecution of such
litigation”).  Sections  509  and  510  are  generic  provisions
concerning  the  functions  of  the  Attorney  General  and  his
ability to delegate authority to “any other officer, employee, 
or agency.”  Section 515 contemplates an “attorney specially
appointed by the Attorney General under law,” thereby sug-
gesting  that  such  an  attorney’s  office  must  have  already
been created by some other law.  (Emphasis added.)  As for 
§533, it provides that “[t]he Attorney General may appoint 
officials  . . .  to  detect  and  prosecute  crimes  against  the 
United States.”  (Emphasis added.)  It is unclear whether 
an “official” is equivalent to an “officer” as used by the Con-
stitution.  See  Lucia,  585  U. S.,  at  254–255  (opinion  of 
THOMAS, J.) (considering the meaning of “officer”).  Regard-
less, this provision would be a curious place for Congress to 
hide  the  creation  of  an  office  for  a  Special  Counsel.    It  is 
placed in a chapter concerning the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation  (§§531–540d),  not  the  separate  chapters  concern-
ing  U. S.  Attorneys  (§§541–550)  or  the  now-lapsed  Inde-
pendent Counsel (§§591–599).4 

To be sure, the Court gave passing reference to the cited
statutes as supporting the appointment of the Special Pros-
ecutor in United States v. Nixon, 418 U. S. 683, 694 (1974),
but it provided no analysis of those provisions’ text.  Per-
haps  there  is  an  answer  for  why  these  statutes  create  an 
office for the Special Counsel.  But, before this consequen-

—————— 

4 Regulations remain on the books that contemplate an “outside” Spe-
cial Counsel, 28 CFR §600.1 (2023), but I doubt a regulation can create a
federal office without underlying statutory authority to do so.