Must Administrative Officers Serve at the President’s Pleasure?
Article II of the Constitution says that “[t]he executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Of course, the Framers did not expect the President to do everything personally. They anticipated that Congress would enact statutes creating offices and other positions within the executive branch, assigning particular duties and authorities to the people who held those positions, and generally determining the structure of the government’s administrative apparatuses. After all, the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I empowers Congress “[t]o make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution” not only Congress’s own powers but also “all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof”—including the executive power vested in the President.