Opinion ID: 4111397
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appointments Clause Overview

Text: The Appointments Clause states: [The President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall 3 Specifically, the SEC held him liable for (1) securities fraud under Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), and 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5; (2) failure to register as a broker before selling securities under Exchange Act Section 15(a); and (3) failure to register the securities he was selling under Securities Act Sections 5(a) and (c). SEC Release No. 9972, 2015 WL 6575665, at , , , . 4 Mr. Bandimere’s petition states, “The [SEC’s] Opinion must be vacated because it resulted from a process in which an improperly appointed inferior officer played an integral role.” Aplt. Br. at 18; see also id. at 10, 13. -5- be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2. The Appointments Clause embodies both separation of powers and checks and balances. Ryder v. United States, 515 U.S. 177, 182 (1995) (“The Clause is a bulwark against one branch aggrandizing its power at the expense of another branch . . . .”).5 By defining unique roles for each branch in appointing officers, the Clause separates power. It also checks and balances the appointment authority of each branch by providing (1) the President may appoint principal officers only with Senate approval and (2) Congress may confer appointment power over inferior officers to the President, courts, or department heads but may not itself make appointments.6 5 James Madison argued in Federalist Nos. 48 and 51 that checks and balances are needed to sustain a workable separation of powers. The Federalist Nos. 48 and 51, at 308, 318-19 (James Madison) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961); see also M.J.C. Vile, Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers 153, 159-60 (1967). 6 In Federalist No. 76, Alexander Hamilton explained the Senate-approval requirement “would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity.” The Federalist No. 76, at 456 (Alexander Hamilton) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961). In Weiss v. United States, 510 U.S. 163 (1994), the Supreme Court stated the Framers structured “an alternative appointment method for inferior officers” to promote “accountability and check governmental power: any decision to dispense with Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation is Congress’s to make, not the President’s, but Congress’s authority is limited to assigning the appointing power to the highly accountable President or the heads of federal departments, or, where appropriate, to the courts of law.” 510 U.S. at 187. -6- The Appointments Clause also promotes public accountability by identifying the public officials who appoint officers. Edmond v. United States, 520 U.S. 651, 660 (1997). And it prevents the diffusion of that power by restricting it to specific public officials. Ryder, 515 U.S. at 182; Freytag, 501 U.S. at 878, 883. “The Framers understood . . . that by limiting the appointment power, they could ensure that those who wielded it were accountable to political force and the will of the people.” Freytag, 501 U.S. at 884.