Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-635_o7jq.pdf
Page Number: 41

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

9 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

tion of the laws.”  Ibid.  Once officers are selected, the Pres-
ident  must  “supervise  and  guide  their  construction  of  the
statutes under which they act in order to secure that uni-
tary and uniform execution of the laws which Article II of 
the Constitution evidently contemplated in vesting general 
executive power in the President alone.”  Id., at 135.  And, 
of course, the President has the power to remove officers as
he sees fit.  Id., at 176; see also Seila Law LLC v. Consumer 
Financial  Protection  Bureau,  ante,  at  1–13  (THOMAS,  J., 
concurring in part and dissenting in part).

In  addition,  the  President  has  several  specifically  enu-
merated domestic powers.  He has the “Power to Grant Re-
prieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States,
except in Cases of Impeachment.”  Art. II, §2, cl. 1.  He also 
has the power to “nominate, and by and with the Advice and 
Consent  of  the  Senate  [to]  appoint  . . .  Judges  of  the  su-
preme  Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the  United  States, 
whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, 
and which shall be established by Law.”  Cl. 2.  And he must 
“give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union,
and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he 
shall judge necessary and expedient.”  §3.

The founding generation debated whether it was prudent 
to vest so many powers in a single person.  Supporters of 
ratification responded that the design of the Presidency was
necessary to the success of the Constitution.  As Alexander 
Hamilton wrote: 

“Energy in the executive is a leading character in the 
definition of good government.  It is essential to the pro-
tection of the community against foreign attacks; it is 
not  less  essential  to  the  steady  administration  of  the 
laws; to the protection of property against those irreg-
ular  and  high-handed  combinations  which  sometimes 
interrupt the ordinary course of justice; to the security