Question: given how 6 voting members are appointed, can the FEC constitutionally it’s exercise the power granted to it? How the voting members of the commission are selected Two appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate Two appointed by the Speaker of the House Two appointed by the President Very collaborative—checks and balances include FEC’s responsibilities/functions Report keeping, disclosure of information and investigation Rulemaking/adjudicative power Make rules necessary for the carrying out of the Act’s objectives Can render advisory opinions Can authorize campaign expenditures that exceed the statutory limit Direct, wide ranging enforcement power Can institute civil action for injunctive or other relief Can make a finding that a person failed to file a require report which would limit their ability to run for a year Appointments Clause POTUS, with advice and consent of the senate, appoints Officers of the US “not herein otherwise provided for” Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as “but they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments” Exclusivity of A2 §2 for officers: it is divided into two specific classes of appointments with specific protocol for each Neither the Speaker nor the President pro tempore come into the language for either class of in conjunction with of suggests “Heads Department” “Courts Law” that it was referring to executive branch, which rules out the president pro tempore of the and the speaker Covers all appointments—expressio Best legal arguments against exclusivity: What if the Appointments clause is a floor? The enhanced checks and balances is in the spirit of the separation of powers (Functional argument) of powers just a broad principle, woven into the “Separation isn’t it’s document so look at the document” Look at how separation of powers was implemented in the Constitution might apply to the Constitution as a whole not the “Herein” Appointments Clause In this case, the senate and house can appoint their own officers Categorization as (partly) officers, not mere employees The FEC members are at LEAST “inferior Officers” officers: significant authority pursuant to the here, “exercising laws”– enforcement power info collection and investigation beyond
Question: given how it’s 6 voting members are appointed, can the FEC constitutionally exercise the power granted to it? How the voting members of the commission are selected Two appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate Two appointed by the Speaker of the House Two appointed by the President Very collaborative—checks and balances FEC’s responsibilities/functions include Report keeping, disclosure of information and investigation Rulemaking/adjudicative power Make rules necessary for the carrying out of the Act’s objectives Can render advisory opinions Can authorize campaign expenditures that exceed the statutory limit Direct, wide ranging enforcement power Can institute civil action for injunctive or other relief Can make a finding that a person failed to file a require report which would limit their ability to run for a year Appointments Clause POTUS, with advice and consent of the senate, appoints Officers of the US “not herein otherwise provided for” “but 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” Exclusivity of A2 §2 for officers: it is divided into two specific classes of appointments with specific protocol for each Neither the Speaker nor the President pro tempore come into the language for either class “Heads of Department” in conjunction with “Courts of Law” suggests that it was referring to executive branch, which rules out the president pro tempore of the and the speaker Covers all appointments—expressio Best legal arguments against exclusivity: What if the Appointments clause is a floor? The enhanced checks and balances is in the spirit of the separation of powers (Functional argument) “Separation of powers isn’t just a broad principle, it’s woven into the document so look at the document” Look at how separation of powers was implemented in the Constitution “Herein” might apply to the Constitution as a whole not the Appointments Clause In this case, the senate and house can appoint their own officers Categorization as (partly) officers, not mere employees The FEC members are at LEAST “inferior Officers” officers: “exercising significant authority pursuant to the laws”– here, enforcement power beyond info collection and investigation