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Page Number: 28.0

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FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT BD. FOR 
PUERTO RICO v. AURELIUS INVESTMENT, LLC 
THOMAS, J., concurring in judgment 

The Court reaches the right conclusion: The appointment 
process for members of the Financial Oversight and Man-
agement Board for Puerto Rico (Board) does not violate the
Appointments  Clause.    I  cannot  agree,  however,  with  the
ill-defined path that the Court takes to reach this result.  I 
would  resolve  these  cases  based  on  the  original  public
meaning of the phrase “Officers of the United States” in the
Appointments Clause. 

I 

The  Appointments  Clause  provides  that  the  President 
“shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent 
of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Min-
isters  and  Consuls,  Judges  of  the  supreme  Court,  and  all 
other  Officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  Appointments 
are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be 
established by Law.”  Art. II, §2, cl. 2.  The Clause also per-
mits Congress to vest the appointment of “inferior Officers”
in “the President alone,” “the Courts of Law,” or “the Heads 
of Departments.”  Ibid. 

As I have previously explained, the original public mean-
ing  of  the  phrase  “Officers  of  the  United  States”  includes 
“all federal civil officials who perform an ongoing, statutory 
duty.”  Lucia v. SEC, 585 U. S. ___, ___ (2018) (THOMAS, J., 
concurring) (slip op., at 2) (citing Mascott, Who Are “Offic-
ers of the United States”? 70 Stan. L. Rev. 443, 454 (2018) 
(Mascott)).  At the founding, the term “officer” referred to
“anyone  who  performed  a  continuous  public  duty.”    585 
U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 3).  And the phrase “of the United 
States” limited the Appointments Clause to “federal” offic-
ers.  Ibid.; see Mascott 471–479. 

II 
Territorial officials performing duties created under Ar-
ticle  IV  of  the  Constitution  are  not  federal officers  within