Should the Court Change the Scope of the Removal Power?

Abstract

In this essay Professor Pierce argues that the Court should use a strict functional approach in its ongoing process of changing the scope of the power of the president to remove officers. He maintains that the Court can reconcile the potentially conflicting commands of Article II and due process by holding that the president must have unlimited power to remove any officer who can make policy decisions on behalf of the government, but that due process limits the power of the president to remove an officer whose sole responsibility is to adjudicate disputes between private parties and the government.