Justice Thomas rightfully asks under what authority was Smith appointed to his role? He wasn’t appointed by approval from Congress. It was Merrick Garland running amok.
Yep. From Thomas’ concurring opinion:
“I write separately to highlight another way in which this prosecution may violate our constitutional structure. In this case, the Attorney General purported to appoint a private citizen as Special Counsel to prosecute a former President on behalf of the United States. But, I am not sure that any office for the Special Counsel has been “established by Law,” as the Constitution requires. Art. II, §2, cl. 2. By requiring that Congress create federal offices “by Law,” the Constitution imposes an important check against the President—he cannot create offices at his pleasure.
If there is no law establishing the office that the Special Counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution. A private citizen cannot criminally prosecute anyone, let alone a former President. No former President has faced criminal prosecution for his acts while in office in the more than 200 years since the founding of our country. And, that is so despite numerous past Presidents taking actions that many would argue constitute crimes. If this unprecedented prosecution is to proceed, it must be conducted by someone duly authorized to do so by the American people.
The lower courts should thus answer these essential questions concerning the Special Counsel’s appointment before proceeding.”
Here is Amy Howe’s write-up on the Immunity case Opinion from today. Remember, all attorneys at scotusblog lean left so take that in consideration when reading articles at the site. Although I do think they do a reasonable job in trying to not slant their articles.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/07/justices-rule-trump-has-some-immunity-from-prosecution/
Has Merrick Garland ever yet responded to the question of why his appointment of Jack Smith as special prosecutor was valid and how?
Or has he, just by saying, trust me, it was ok for me to do that?