Id. at 125-26 (emphasis added).16 In contrast, “[e]mployees are lesser functionaries subordinate to officers of the United States.” Id. at 126 n. 162.
16 Select Att’y Gen. 116, 118-19, 122-23 (1911) (official authorized to perform all the duties of the Commissioner of Fisheries, who was appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, was an officer; scientists, technicians, and superintendent of mechanical plant in the Bureau of Standards were employees rather than officers); Second Deputy Comptroller of the Currency — Appointment, 26 Op. Att’y Gen. 627, 628 (1908) (“The officer is distinguished from the employee in the greater importance, dignity, and independence of his position”; official authorized to exercise powers of the Comptroller of the Currency in the absence of the Comptroller was clearly an officer).
We hasten to note that the exercise of significant authority alone is not a sufficient condition to characterizing a position as an office within the meaning of the Appointments Clause. Continue Reading
