Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 54

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

3 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

tors “to appoint inferior officers without the advice and con-
sent of the Senate.”  NLRB v. SW General, Inc., 580 U. S. 
288, 312 (2017) (THOMAS, J., concurring).  As relevant here, 
a “Hea[d] of Department”—such as the Attorney General—
is one such actor that Congress may authorize “by Law” to
appoint  inferior  officers  without  senatorial  confirmation.
Art. II, §2, cl. 2.

Before the President or a Department Head can appoint
any officer, however, the Constitution requires that the un-
derlying office be “established by Law.”1  The Constitution 
itself creates some offices, most obviously that of the Presi-
dent and Vice President.  See §1.  Although the Constitution 
contemplates that there will be “other Officers of the United 
States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise pro-
vided for,” it clearly requires that those offices “shall be es-
tablished by Law.”  §2, cl. 2.  And, “established by law” re-
fers to an office that Congress creates “by statute.”  Lucia 
v. SEC, 585 U. S. 237, 254 (2018) (THOMAS, J., concurring); 
see  also  United  States  v.  Maurice,  26  F. Cas.  1211,  1213 
(No. 15,747) (CC Va. 1823) (Marshall, C. J.).

The limitation on the President’s power to create offices 
grew out of the Founders’ experience with the English mon-
archy.  The King could wield significant power by both cre-
ating and filling offices as he saw fit.  He was “emphatically
and  truly  styled  the  fountain  of  honor.    He  not  only  ap-
point[ed] to all offices, but [could] create offices.”  The Fed-
eralist No. 69, p. 421 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961); see also 1 W.
Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 271 (T. 
—————— 

1 Although a Government official may also be a “nonofficer employe[e],” 
I set aside that category because it is difficult to see how an official exer-
cising the Department of Justice’s duties to enforce the criminal law by 
leading  a  prosecution  could  be  anything  but  an  officer.  Lucia  v.  SEC, 
585 U. S. 237, 253, n. 1 (2018) (THOMAS, J., concurring); see SW General, 
580 U. S., at 314 (opinion of THOMAS, J.).  If the Special Counsel were a 
nonofficer  employee,  the  constitutional  problems  with  this  prosecution 
would only be more serious.  For now, I assume without deciding that the
Special Counsel is an officer.