Opinion ID: 482000
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: May the Comptroller General Constitutionally Implement CICA?

Text: 47 The Army attacks CICA by arguing that the Act authorizes the Comptroller General to engage in execution of the law in constitutional terms. Synar, 106 S.Ct. at 3192. The Army begins this attack by summoning language from Synar which it asserts defines executive action: 48 Interpreting a law enacted by Congress to implement the legislative mandate is the very essence of execution of the law. Under Sec. 251, the Comptroller General must exercise judgment concerning facts that affect the application of the Act. He must also interpret the provisions of the Act to determine precisely what budgetary calculations are required. Decisions of that kind are typically made by officers charged with executing a statute. 49 Id. Upon this language the Army bases its contention that the Comptroller General impermissibly executes CICA: 50 Under CICA, the Comptroller General has been empowered to determine whether a particular protest is frivolous, whether it state[s] a valid basis for protest, or whether the specific circumstances of the protest require staying performance of the government's contract for longer than the statutory period. 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3554(a)(1)-(a)(3). Because in discharging those responsibilities the Comptroller General interprets the provisions of the Act and must exercise judgment concerning facts that affect the application of the Act (Bowsher, [106 S.Ct. at 3192] he is executing the law. Therefore, just as the Comptroller General may not discharge the responsibilities vested in him by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, he cannot exercise the authority drawn in question here, for while his responsibilities may be less extensive here than in Bowsher, they are nonetheless executive in nature. 51 Supplemental Memorandum of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, filed July 29, 1986, at 5-6. 52 The Army is correct insofar as it presses Synar 's holding that an essential part of execution of the law is the interpretation of that law. Certainly the executive cannot execute the law's command until he decides what that command is, and absent a determination by the courts the executive must find the law's command himself. It is for this reason, and to this extent, that the President's duty to the law often puts upon him the duty to interpret it for the Executive Department. Edward S. Corwin, The President: Office and Powers, 1787--1984 141 (5th rev. ed. 1984). 53 The mere fact that a non-executive government official interprets the law, however, does not in and of itself mean that this official infringes on the President's authority to execute the law. Synar 's discussion of the executive nature of the Comptroller General's authority in that case did not end with the sentences quoted by the Army, but rather focused on the Comptroller's authority under Gramm-Rudman-Hollings to direct the exercise of Presidential authority: 54 The executive nature of the Comptroller General's functions under the Act is revealed in Sec. 252(a)(3) which gives the Comptroller General the ultimate authority to determine the budget cuts to be made. Indeed, the Comptroller General commands the President himself to carry out, without the slightest variation (with exceptions not relevant to the constitutional issues presented) the directive of the Comptroller General as to the budget cut reductions: 55 The [Presidential] order must provide for reductions in the manner specified in section 251(a)(3), must incorporate the provisions of the [Comptroller General's] report submitted under section 251(b), and must be consistent with such report in all respects. The President may not modify or recalculate any of the estimates, determinations, specifications, bases, amounts, or percentages set forth in the report submitted under section 251(b) in determining the reductions to be specified in the order with respect to programs, projects, and activities, or with respect to budget activities, within an account.... 56 Synar, 106 S.Ct. at 3192, quoting Sec. 252(a)(3) of Gramm-Rudman-Hollings (emphasis and bracketed material supplied by the Supreme Court). 57 Indeed, the Army's suggestion that interpretation of the law by those outside the executive branch infringes on the President's authority to execute the law would render unconstitutional a substantial portion of our constitutional system long thought to be at least permissible and at most constitutionally required. From Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch (5 U.S.) 137, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803), to United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974), the Supreme Court has emphasized that the judicial branch has the authority and duty not only to interpret the law but to decide in the final instance of every suit what the law says. The judiciary also applies the law to particular facts, and even issues orders binding on the Executive. 58 In addition, many laws specifically delegate authority either to the judiciary or to Congress, in the administration of which these branches must interpret the law and may even make binding decisions. See, e.g., 28 U.S.C. Secs. 601-11 (granting broad powers to Director of Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts); 2 U.S.C. Secs. 601-05 (establishing duties of Congressional Budget Office); 28 U.S.C. Secs. 2071-76 (granting Supreme Court broad powers to make court rules). The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of some of these delegations. See, e.g., Sibbach v. Wilson & Co., 312 U.S. 1, 9-10, 61 S.Ct. 422, 424-25, 85 L.Ed. 479 (1941) (Congress has undoubted power to regulate the practice and procedure of federal courts, and may exercise that power by delegating to this or other federal courts authority to make rules....) (footnote omitted). We cannot believe that the Supreme Court intended Synar to overrule these cases and to make as drastic a change in our constitutional system as the Army's interpretation would suggest. 59 We believe that the Army's error stems from its focus on the manner in which the Comptroller General acts to the exclusion of the power he wields. We think instead that Synar enjoins us to ascertain whether the power Congress has given the Comptroller General lies outside Congressional authority, or is of a kind which Article II of the Constitution grants exclusively to the President and his subordinates. Such an analysis is also hinted at in Humphrey's Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602, 628, 55 S.Ct. 869, 874, 79 L.Ed. 1611 (1935), which distinguishes between the exercise of an executive function, on the one hand, and the wielding of executive power, on the other. Justice Sutherland's opinion in Humphrey's explains: 60 To the extent that [the FTC] exercises an executive function--as distinguished from executive power in the constitutional sense--it does so in the discharge and effectuation of its quasi legislative or quasi judicial powers, or as an agency of the legislative or judicial departments of the government. 61 Id. (footnote omitted); see also Synar v. United States, 626 F.Supp. 1374, 1397 n. 25 (D.D.C.1986) (making the same distinction). Although the manner in which a branch operates will in some senses be related to its power, United States v. Ferreira, 54 U.S. (13 How.) 40, 14 L.Ed. 42 (1852) (federal courts lack constitutional authority to render advisory opinions), we are ultimately concerned in this case with the kind of power the Comptroller General wields. The true questions before us are whether the Comptroller's actions pursuant to CICA constitute a legitimate exercise of Congressional power and whether, in any event, that exercise usurps power granted exclusively to the President. 62
63 We first consider whether the Comptroller's actions pursuant to CICA are a legitimate exercise of Congressional authority. 7 In general, Congress has enormous authority to pass laws governing the procurement process. The Army does not contend, and we know of no authority or reason, that Congress could not, through legislation, dictate exactly what the Army must purchase, from whom, and at what price. 8 The Comptroller General's actions pursuant to CICA, however, do not constitute legislation. Chadha recognizes that Congress' authority to legislate, obeying the bicameralism and presentment clauses of Article I, is broader than its authority to act in other ways. 64 Notwithstanding the limitations on its authority when Congress does not act through legislation, Chadha, the courts have long recognized that Congress may legitimately investigate executive and other conduct even when it does not act through legislation. See, e.g., Kilbourn v. Thompson, 13 Otto 168, 103 U.S. 168, 26 L.Ed. 377 (1880); McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135, 47 S.Ct. 319, 71 L.Ed. 580 (1927). That authority flows directly from Congress's authority to pass laws, because of the lawmakers' need to be properly informed. See Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178, 200, 77 S.Ct. 1173, 1185, 1 L.Ed.2d 1273 (1957). Moreover, in order to investigate, individual Congressional Committees may coerce testimony by issuing subpoenas. They may do so without the concurrence of both houses and without presentment of the question to the President. 2 U.S.C. Sec. 190l: Indeed, recognizing Congress's needs for information and for time to legislate properly, the Supreme Court has indicated that the legislature may properly command the executive to stay its actions and report to Congress before proceeding with a specific executive act. See Chadha, 462 U.S. at 935 n. 9, 103 S.Ct. at 2776 n. 9, citing Sibbach v. Wilson & Co., 312 U.S. 1, 61 S.Ct. 422, 85 L.Ed. 479 (1941). 65 Congress also has the power to seek to influence executive action through the force of its opinions. Congress may, and often does, pass concurrent resolutions setting out its views, without presentment to the President. See 4 Hinds, Precedents of the House of Representatives Secs. 3483, 3484 (1907). 66 Moreover, courts have recognized that Congress may exercise this influence not only through the direct communication of its views but also through the illuminating power of investigation. While there is no congressional power to expose for the sake of exposure, the Supreme Court has distinguished investigation of that kind from Congressional efforts to inquire into and publicize corruption, maladministration or inefficiency in agencies of Government. Watkins, 354 U.S. at 200 & n. 33, 77 S.Ct. at 1185 & n. 33. In Bowsher v. Merck & Co., 460 U.S. 824, 103 S.Ct. 1587, 75 L.Ed.2d 580 (1983), the Supreme Court even appeared to endorse the lodging of this authority in the hands of the Comptroller General. Construing a statute which altered the scope of the Comptroller General's investigatory powers, the Court recognized that the two major purposes of the bill were 'to give the Comptroller General the proper tools to do the job the Congress has instructed him to do ... and ... to provide a deterrent to improprieties and wastefulness in the negotiation of contracts.'  Id. at 833, 103 S.Ct. at 1593; quoting 97 Cong.Rec. 13198 (1951) (our emphasis). 67 Lower courts have come to similar conclusions. As a line of cases in the Court of Claims and the Federal Circuit recognizes, Congressional investigations often affect procurement decisions, and the executive may properly change a procurement decision because of Congressional pressure to do so. See e.g., City of Alexandria v. United States, 737 F.2d 1022 (Fed.Cir.1984); Schlesinger v. United States, 390 F.2d 702, 710, 182 Ct.Cl. 571 (1968) (Navy may legitimately terminate a contract under termination for convenience clause because of Congressional pressure to do so). In John Reiner & Co. v. United States, 325 F.2d 438, 442-43, 163 Ct.Cl. 381 (1963), the Court of Claims also recognized that the Comptroller General properly wields this influence and may persuade the executive about procurement decisions because he represents an arm of Government properly concerned with the contractual problem. (footnote omitted). As the Reiner Court stated, the executive's yielding to Comptroller's influence does not allow[ ] the Comptroller General to dictate the termination of the contract, but, rather, [is] using termination as a means of minimizing a conflict with the legislature. Id. 325 F.2d at 442. 68 As our earlier discussion of CICA makes clear, that Act permits an agent of the legislature to investigate potential government misconduct in the execution of the procurement laws, and to influence the executive's execution of the laws through the powers of public illumination and persuasion. Congress has authority to accomplish these purposes. Furthermore, as the judicial sanction of report and wait provisions indicates, Congress has authority to delay procurement activity in the pursuit of these goals. 9 See Chadha, 462 U.S. at 935 n. 9, 103 S.Ct. at 2776 n. 9. Finally, as the judicial sanction of legislative subpoenas indicates, Congress may properly exercise discretion outside of legislation in deciding how it shall conduct an investigation, even though its subpoenas may have an impact on the executive. Absent a usurpation of executive authority, or an unconstitutional interference with it, the Comptroller's actions pursuant to CICA represent a proper exercise of Congressional authority. 69 2. Do CICA's Stay Provisions Attempt to Authorize the Comptroller General to Usurp the President's Authority to Execute the Laws? 70 The President's duty under the Constitution to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, U.S. Const. Art. II Sec. 3 is accompanied by the grant of the executive power. Id. at Sec. 1. The scope of this power depends on the amount of discretion that law leaves to the executive: in a sense, the power to execute the laws commences where Congress's exercise of the power to legislate leaves off. See Jackson, J., concurring in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 635, 72 S.Ct. 863, 870, 96 L.Ed. 1153 (1952) (Presidential powers are not fixed but fluctuate, depending upon their disjunction or conjunction with those of Congress.) If Congress gives the President only a few general instructions, and allows the executive to fill up the details, see Wayman v. Southard, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 1, 43, 6 L.Ed. 253 (1825), then the scope of the executive power is great. If, on the other hand, Congress chooses to specify a great number of details concerning how it wants the executive to proceed, such as specifying what it wants the executive to procure, the legislature is entirely free to take that course. 71 Notwithstanding Congress' authority to define the contours of the power to execute the laws, Chadha instructs us that once Congress has delegated authority to the executive, the executive must be allowed to operate freely within the sphere of discretion created for him by that legislation, subject only to challenge for illegality before the courts and the general oversight of Congress. In Synar, for example, Congress delegated to the President the power to specify certain changes in the budget. Nothing in the Constitution gives the President any power over appropriations except the power to veto appropriation legislation. But the delegation of power at issue in Synar made the changes in the budget a matter of executive discretion, subject to certain prescribed standards. The constitutional infirmity recognized by the Supreme Court was that, having delegated that power to the President, Congress then obliged the President to exercise that discretion according to the dictates of the Comptroller General, an agent of the legislature, without any change in the underlying legislation. Synar, 106 S.Ct. at 3192. 72 Unlike the contentions advanced in Synar, however, the Army does not argue that in passing CICA Congress gave power to the executive and then took it back, and upon examination such a contention would clearly be untenable. Unlike Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, CICA itself does not give the executive any substantive powers. The only grant of power to the executive in CICA is the right, under certain circumstances, to override the ninety day stay or any extension thereof which the Comptroller General might impose. CICA does not grant any authority to the Comptroller General to dictate how the executive utilizes that authority to override the stay. 73 Because CICA does not allow Congress to wield powers that have been given to the executive, either by the Constitution itself or in the delegation in CICA, the Comptroller General's actions under CICA alone do not constitute execution of the law in constitutional terms. 74