The Executive
Appointment and Removal Powers
Myers v. United States (1926)
272 U.S. 52 (1926)
Decision: Affirmed
Vote: 6-3
Majority: Taft, joined by Van Devanter, Sutherland, Butler, Sanford, Stone
Dissent: Holmes
Dissent: McReynolds
Dissent: Brandeis
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE TAFT delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case presents the question whether, under the Constitution, the President has the exclusive power of removing executive officers of the United States whom he has appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Myers … was, on July 21, 1917, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to be a postmaster of the first class at Portland, Oregon, for a term of four years. On January 20, 1920, Myers’ resignation was demanded. He refused the demand. On February 2, 1920, he was removed from office by order of the Postmaster General, acting by direction of the President. February 10th, Myers sent a petition to the President and another to the Senate Committee on Post Offices, asking to be heard if any charges were filed. He protested to the Department against his removal, and continued to do so until the end of his term. He pursued no other occupation, and drew compensation for no other service during the interval. On April 21, 1921, he brought this suit in the Court of Claims for his salary from the date of his removal, which, as claimed by supplemental petition filed after July 21, 1921, the end of his term, amounted to $8,838.71 …
[By the law] under which Myers was appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate as a first-class postmaster, it is provided that
“Postmasters of the first, second and third classes shall be appointed and may be removed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and shall hold their offices for four years unless sooner removed or suspended according to law.”
The Senate did not consent to the President’s removal of Myers during his term. If this statute, in its requirement that his term should be four years unless sooner removed by the President by and with the consent of the Senate, is valid, the appellant, Myers’ administratrix, is entitled to recover his unpaid salary for his full term, and the judgment of the Court of Claims must be reversed. The Government maintains that the requirement is invalid for the reason that, under Article II of the Constitution the President’s power of removal of executive officers appointed by him with the advice and consent of the Senate is full and complete without consent of the Senate … We are therefore confronted by the constitutional question, and cannot avoid it …
The question where the power of removal of executive officers appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate was vested was presented early in the first session of the First Congress. There is no express provision respecting removals in the Constitution, except as Section 4 of Article II … provides for removal from