Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-1434_ancf.pdf
Page Number: 11

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

with it.’ ”  Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Account-
ing Oversight Bd., 561 U. S. 477, 496–497 (2010) (quoting 
Clinton v. Jones, 520 U. S. 681, 712–713 (1997) (BREYER, J., 
concurring  in  judgment)).    The  Framers  recognized,  of
course, that “no single person could fulfill that responsibil-
ity alone, [and] expected that the President would rely on 
subordinate officers for assistance.”  Seila Law LLC v. Con-
sumer  Financial  Protection  Bureau,  591  U. S.  ___,  ___ 
(2020) (plurality opinion) (slip op., at 2). 

Today, thousands of officers wield executive power on be-
half of the President in the name of the United States.  That 
power acquires its legitimacy and accountability to the pub-
lic through “a clear and effective chain of command” down 
from the President, on whom all the people vote.  Free En-
terprise Fund, 561 U. S., at 498.  James Madison extolled 
this “great principle of unity and responsibility in the Exec-
utive  department,”  which  ensures  that  “the  chain  of  de-
pendence [will] be preserved; the lowest officers, the middle 
grade, and the highest, will depend, as they ought, on the 
President, and the President on the community.”  1 Annals 
of Cong. 499 (1789).

The Appointments Clause provides: 

“[The President] shall nominate, and by and with the
Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  Am-
bassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges
of  the  supreme  Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the
United States, whose Appointments are not herein oth-
erwise provided for, and which shall be established by
Law: but Congress may by Law vest the Appointment
of  such  inferior  Officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the
President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads 
of Departments.”  Art. II, §2, cl. 2. 

Assigning the nomination power to the President guaran-
tees accountability for the appointees’ actions because the 
“blame of a bad nomination would fall upon the president