Opinion ID: 467497
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appointment of Council Members

Text: 18 Petitioners argue that, even if the Council is a valid compact organization, the appointments clause of the United States Constitution requires that Council members be appointed not by the state governors, Sec. 839b(a)(3), but by the President because the Council exercises significant authority over the federal government. See U.S. Const. art. II, Sec. 2, cl. 2. The appointments clause is addressed to the separation of powers between the President and Congress. See Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 126, 96 S.Ct. 612, 685, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976). No court has yet held that the appointments clause prohibits the creation of an interstate planning council with members appointed by the states. 19 The Supreeme Court in Buckley said that any appointee exercising significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States is an 'Officer of the United States' and must, therefore, be appointed by the President. Id. Petitioners claim that appointment of Council members by the state governors violates Buckley. 20 Petitioners' theory, however, would outlaw virtually all compacts because all or most of them impact federal activities and all or most of them have members appointed by the participating states. See, e.g., Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 706 F.2d at 1314. 21 The appointments clause applies to (1) all executive or administrative officers, 424 U.S. at 123-26, 96 S.Ct. at 684-86; (2) who serve pursuant to federal law, 424 U.S. at 126, 96 S.Ct. at 685; and, (3) who exercise significant authority over federal government actions. 424 U.S. at 126-27 & n. 162, 96 S.Ct. at 685 & n. 162. Unless all three prongs of the Buckley test are met, there is no violation of the appointments clause. 22 The council members clear the second Buckley element. The Council members do not perform their duties pursuant to laws of the United States. See Buckley, 424 U.S. at 126, 96 S.Ct. at 685. Rather, the Council members perform their duties pursuant to a compact which requires both state legislation and congressional approval. Without substantive state legislation, there would be no Council and no Council members to appoint. While congressional consent gives an interstate compact some attributes of federal law, the Council members' appointment, salaries and administrative operations are pursuant to the laws of the four individual states, within parameters set by the Act. Secs. 839b(a)(3), 839b(a)(4). More important, the states ultimately empower the Council members to carry out their duties. Federal law provides congressional consent for formation of the Council as it does for the creation of all compacts and compact agencies. Federal law also affects the substance of Council policy decisions because the Act constrains Council policy-making, see Secs. 839b(c), (d), (e), and subjects some Council operations to federal law. As with any compact, congressional consent did not result in the creation but only authorized the creation of the compact organization and the appointment of its officials. The appointment, salaries and direction of the Council members are state-derived. 23 We need not reach the first and third Buckley elements. The question, thus narrowed, because Council members do not serve pursuant to federal law, makes immaterial whether they exercise some significant executive or administrative authority over federal activity. It is likewise immaterial how their duties are classified: executive or administrative, because they perform these duties under a compact, rather than federal law within the meaning of Buckley. 24 Buckley is about maintaining the separation of powers within the federal government. This concern is not implicated here. In this case, unlike Buckley, Congress has not arrogated to itself a power that would otherwise be exercised by the President. See also Synar v. United States, 626 F.Supp. 1374 (D.D.C.1986) (per curiam) which holds the exercise of executive power by an officer who could be removed by Congress unconstitutional. The court in Synar stressed the founders' often expressed fear 'that the Legislative Branch of the National Government will aggrandize itself at the expense of the other two branches.'  Synar, 626 F.Supp. at 1401, quoting Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. at 129, 96 S.Ct. at 687. Because Congress neither appoints nor removes the members of this Council, the balance of powers between Congress and the President is unaffected. 25 The Council violates neither the compact nor appointments clauses of the United States Constitution. The Act establishes an innovative system of cooperative federalism under which the states, within limits provided in the Act, can represent their shared interests in the maintenance and development of a power supply in the Pacific Northwest and in related environmental concerns. 2