A

MYERS v. UNITED STATES 272 U.S. 52 (1926)

An 1876 statute authorized presidential appointment and removal of postmasters with the ADVICE AND CONSENT of the SENATE. (See APPOINTING AND REMOVAL POWER.) President WOODROW WILSON appointed Myers with Senate consent but later removed him without consulting that body. Myers filed suit in the COURT OF CLAIMS and appealed that court's adverse decision to the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice, and former President, WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, in a broad construction of Article II, found the statute unconstitutional. For a 6–3 majority he insisted upon the necessity for the nation's chief executive officer to be able to remove subordinates freely: "To hold otherwise would make it impossible for the President … to take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

Justices OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JAMES C. MCREYNOLDS, and LOUIS D. BRANDEIS dissented. Brandeis declared that implying an unrestricted power of removal from the power of appointment "involved an unnecessary and indefensible limitation upon the constitutional power of Congress." History and present state practice demonstrated "a decided tendency to limit" the executive's removal power, and he also cited the DOCTRINES of CHECKS AND BALANCES and the SEPARATION OF POWERS.

The Court limited the doctrinal reach of Myers in HUMPHREY ' S EXECUTOR V. UNITED STATES (1935).