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Page Number: 57.0

6 

TRUMP v. UNITED STATES 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

to investigate the Teapot Dome Scandal and pursue prose-
cutions.  See ch. 16, 43 Stat. 6.  And, a statute provided for 
“the  appointment  of  an  independent  counsel”  that  we  ad-
dressed in Morrison v. Olson.  See 28 U. S. C. §592.  That 
statute lapsed, and Congress has not since reauthorized the 
appointment of an independent counsel.  See §599.2 

We  cannot  ignore  the  importance  that  the  Constitution 
places on who creates a federal office.  To guard against tyr-
anny, the Founders required that a federal office be “estab-
lished by Law.”  As James Madison cautioned, “[i]f there is 
any point in which the separation of the Legislative and Ex-
ecutive  powers  ought  to  be  maintained  with  greater  cau-
tion, it is that which relates to officers and offices.”  1 An-
nals of Cong. 581.  If Congress has not reached a consensus
that a particular office should exist, the Executive lacks the 
power to create and fill an office of his own accord. 

II 
It is difficult to see how the Special Counsel has an office
“established  by  Law,”  as  required  by  the  Constitution. 
When the Attorney General appointed the Special Counsel, 
he did not identify any statute that clearly creates such an
office.  See Dept. of Justice Order No. 5559–2022 (Nov. 18, 
2022).  Nor did he rely on a statute granting him the au-
thority to appoint officers as he deems fit, as the heads of 
some other agencies have.3  See supra, at 5.  Instead, the 
Attorney General relied upon several statutes of a general 
nature.  See Order No. 5559–2022 (citing 28 U. S. C. §§509, 
510, 515, 533). 
—————— 

2 To  be  sure,  a  few  Presidents  have  appointed  “special  prosecutors”
without pointing to any express statutory authorization.  See generally
T. Eastland, Ethics, Politics and the Independent Counsel 8–9 (1989) (de-
scribing past uses of special prosecutors).  But, this Court had no occa-
sion to review the constitutionality of those prosecutors’ authority. 

3 In fact, Congress gave the Attorney General the power to appoint “ad-
ditional officers . . . as he deems necessary”—but, only for the Bureau of 
Prisons.  18 U. S. C. §4041.