Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 56

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

5 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

Congress broad authority to establish and organize the Ex-
ecutive  Branch.”  Seila  Law  LLC  v.  Consumer  Financial 
Protection  Bureau,  591  U. S.  197,  266  (2020)  (KAGAN, J., 
concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part).  By
keeping  the  ability  to  create  offices  out  of  the  President’s 
hands, the Founders ensured that no President could uni-
laterally create an army of officer positions to then fill with 
his  supporters.    Instead,  our  Constitution  leaves  it  in  the 
hands of the people’s elected representatives to determine 
whether new executive offices should exist. 

Longstanding  practice  from  the  founding  to  today  com-
ports with this original understanding that Congress must 
create offices by law.  The First Congress, for instance, rou-
tinely  and  explicitly  created  offices  by  statute.    See,  e.g., 
§35, 1 Stat. 92–93 (creating the offices of Attorney General
and U. S. Attorney for each district); see also §§1–2, id., at 
50 (creating offices of Secretary of War and his Chief Clerk);
ch. 12, §1, id., at 65 (creating offices within the Department
of  Treasury  for  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a  Comptroller,
Auditor,  Treasurer,  Register,  and  Assistant  to  the  Secre-
tary).  Still today, Congress creates the offices that the Ex-
ecutive Branch may fill.  For example, Congress has created
several offices within the Department of Justice, including
the offices of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney Gen-
eral, Associate Attorney General, Solicitor General, and As-
sistant Attorneys General.  See 28 U. S. C. §§503–506.  For 
some agencies, Congress has also granted the agency head 
the power to “appoint such officers and employees . . . as are 
necessary  to  execute  the  functions  vested  in  him.”  7 
U. S. C. §610(a) (Department of Agriculture); see also, e.g., 
20  U. S. C.  §3461  (Department  of  Education);  42  U. S. C. 
§913 (Department of Health and Human Services). 

In the past, Congress has at times expressly created of-
fices  similar  to  the  position  now  occupied  by  the  Special
Counsel.  Congress created an office for a “special counsel”