Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-130_4f14.pdf
Page Number: 8.0

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

II
 

The  sole  question  here  is  whether  the  Commission’s 
ALJs are “Officers of the United States” or simply employ-
ees of the Federal Government.  The Appointments Clause
prescribes  the  exclusive  means  of  appointing  “Officers.” 
Only  the  President,  a  court  of  law,  or  a  head  of  depart-
ment can do so.  See Art. II, §2, cl. 2.3  And as all parties
agree,  none  of  those  actors  appointed  Judge  Elliot  before 
he  heard  Lucia’s  case;  instead,  SEC  staff  members  gave 
him  an  ALJ  slot.  See  Brief  for  Petitioners  15;  Brief  for 
United  States  38;  Brief  for  Court-Appointed  Amicus  Cu-
riae  21.  So  if  the  Commission’s  ALJs  are  constitutional 
officers,  Lucia  raises  a  valid  Appointments  Clause  claim. 
The  only  way  to  defeat  his  position  is  to  show  that  those
ALJs  are  not  officers  at  all,  but  instead  non-officer  em-
ployees—part  of  the  broad  swath  of  “lesser  functionaries” 
in  the  Government’s  workforce.  Buckley  v.  Valeo,  424 
U. S. 1, 126, n. 162 (1976) (per curiam).  For if that is true, 
the  Appointments  Clause  cares  not  a  whit  about  who
named them.  See United States v. Germaine, 99 U. S. 508, 
510 (1879).

Two  decisions  set  out  this  Court’s  basic  framework  for 
distinguishing between officers and employees.  Germaine 
held that “civil surgeons” (doctors hired to perform various
physical exams) were mere employees because their duties 
were  “occasional  or  temporary”  rather  than  “continuing 

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3 That  statement  elides  a  distinction,  not  at  issue  here,  between 
“principal”  and  “inferior”  officers.    See  Edmond  v.  United  States,  520 
U. S.  651,  659–660  (1997).    Only  the  President,  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate,  can  appoint  a  principal  officer;  but  Congress
(instead of relying on that method) may authorize the President alone,
a  court,  or  a  department  head  to  appoint  an  inferior  officer.   See  ibid. 
Both  the  Government  and  Lucia  view  the  SEC’s  ALJs  as  inferior 
officers  and  acknowledge  that  the  Commission,  as  a  head  of  depart-
ment,  can  constitutionally  appoint  them.    See  Brief  for  United  States 
38; Brief for Petitioners 50–51.