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Page Number: 40

8 

TRUMP v. VANCE 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

He  is  “Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the
United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when 
called into the actual Service of the United States.”  Art. II, 
§2, cl. 1.  He has “Power, by and with the Advice and Con-
sent  of  the  Senate,  to  make  Treaties.”    Cl.  2.    He  has  the  
power to “nominate, and by and with the Advice and Con-
sent  of  the  Senate  [to]  appoint  Ambassadors  [and]  other 
public Ministers and Consuls.”  Ibid.  He has the power to 
fill  vacancies  that  arise  during  a  Senate  recess  until  “the
End of [the Senate’s] next Session.”  Cl. 3.  And he is respon-
sible for “receiv[ing] Ambassadors and other public Minis-
ters” from foreign countries.  §3.

The President also has residual powers granted by Arti-
cle  II’s  Vesting  Clause.    “By  omitting  the  words  ‘herein
granted’ in [the Vesting Clause of] Article II, the Constitu-
tion indicates that the ‘executive Power’ vested in the Pres-
ident is not confined to those powers expressly identified in 
the document.”  Zivotofsky, 576 U. S., at 34–35 (opinion of 
THOMAS, J.).  Rather, the Constitution “vests the residual 
foreign  affairs  powers  of  the  Federal  Government—i.e., 
those  not  specifically  enumerated  in  the  Constitution—in 
the President.”  Id., at 33.  Evidence from both the founding 
and  the  early  years  of  the  Constitution  confirms  that  the
residual foreign affairs powers of the Government were part
of the “executive Power.”  Id., at 35–40. 

The President has extensive domestic responsibilities as
well.  He is given “[t]he executive Power,” Art. II, §1, cl. 1,
and is directed to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully ex-
ecuted,” §3.  “The vesting of the executive power in the Pres-
ident  was  essentially  a  grant  of  the  power  to  execute  the
laws.”  Myers  v.  United  States,  272  U. S.  52,  117  (1926).
Even under a proper understanding of the scope of federal
power,  the  President  could  not  possibly  execute  all  of  the 
laws himself.  The President must accordingly appoint sub-
ordinates “to act for him under his direction in the execu-