AJLs are generally considered Article II (Executive) judges, not Article III (Judicial) judges.
AJL's must be appointed by the president or by heads of departments. Senate advise\consent is not needed.
Couple of decent articles about how we got here with a definitions about removal and it doesn't seem to be by impeachment:
"Under U.S. law, a federal agency may take action against or remove an administrative law judge “only for good cause established and determined by the Merit Systems Protection Board on the record after opportunity for hearing before the Board. ”https://www.ntd.com/job-protection-rules-for-administrative-law-judges-are-unconstitutional-says-doj_1049210.htmlhttps://www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-set-to-review-presidents-power-to-fire-agency-judges/ For instance, AJL's for immigration are appointed by the AG.
Since DOJ is no longer going to defend the shielding law layers for ALJs upon removal, I wonder if Pres. Trump will now start firing them and let somebody sue...taking it ultimately to SCOTUS if needed ?
Should be interesting...and I'm fresh out of popcorn
Good post.
I think that is the plan.
It makes sense—if the judges are in the executive branch the President should be able to remove them at will.
It would probably be easier to just fire all of them at once—save the taxpayers money with just one court case.
Lol.