Court Opinion

ID: 9439293
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 06:30:19.575794+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:26:17.496625
License: Public Domain

Randolph, Circuit Judge,
concurring: If the government had raised a separation of powers argument in support of its claim that the Justice Department’s decision to represent now-Senator Clinton is non-reviewable, I might have been persuaded to reach a different conclusion in this case. See U.S. Const., art. II, § 3. Several cases, perhaps dating as far back as Hayburn’s Case, 2 U.S. 408, 2 Dall. 409, 1 L.Ed. 436 (1792), have reviewed the Attorney General’s decision to undertake legal representation in pending cases. But see Maeva Marcus, Hayburn’s Case: A Misinterpretation of Precedent, 1988 Wis. L. Rev. 527, 535 (concluding that the real issue in Hayburn’s Case was whether Attorney General Randolph had the power to proceed without specific authorization from the President). But none of these cases expressly addresses whether the separation of powers inherent in the Constitution precluded the courts from questioning the judgment of the Executive Branch on such a matter. See, e.g., Booth v. Fletcher, 101 F.2d 676, 681-82 (D.C.Cir.1938); Meredith v. Van Oosterhout, 286 F.2d 216, 220 (8th Cir.1960); Int’l Prods. Corp. v. Koons, 325 F.2d 403, 408 (2d Cir.1963); Brawer v. Horowitz, 535 F.2d 830, 834-35 (3d Cir.1976). The issue therefore remains open. See Webster v. Fall, 266 U.S. 507, 511, 45 S.Ct. 148, 149, 69 L.Ed. 411 (1925).