Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 60.0

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

9 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

“an energetic executive,” because such an Executive is “es-
sential to . . . the security of liberty.”  Ante, at 10 (internal 
quotation marks omitted).  Respecting the protections that 
the  Constitution  provides  for  the  Office  of  the  Presidency
secures  liberty.  In  that  same  vein,  the  Constitution  also 
secures liberty by separating the powers to create and fill 
offices.  And, there are serious questions whether the Attor-
ney General has violated that structure by creating an of-
fice of the Special Counsel that has not been established by
law.  Those questions must be answered before this prose-
cution can proceed.  We must respect the Constitution’s sep-
aration of powers in all its forms, else we risk rendering its
protection of liberty a parchment guarantee.