The appointments clause, in other words, divides up the executive branch into principal officers - who require Senate approval - and "inferior officers," who do not. Mr. Fitzgerald was not confirmed by the Senate as a principal officer, so he isn't one. But he is not accountable to the attorney general or to any other Justice Department official, so he isn't an inferior officer, either. He is, not to put too fine a point on it, an illegal, extra-constitutional prosecutor.
NY Sun, 2/24/2006, Editorial
Not that we should be surprised -- going outside legal restrictions is nothing new for the former party of government. The Clintons used to brag about using Executive Orders as a means of bypassing Congressional legislation, that is to say, those federal law makers defined by the Constitution of the United States. Venue shopping, that is, prosecutors selecting courts in the hope of getting a ruling favorable to a political opinion, what is often called juridicial legislation, is another trick that's been used to bypass the law as set by Congress and the Constitution. For Democrats and lawyers who may not know what the Constitution is, it's that funny, old piece of paper that the President and every other elected official has sworn to uphold, defend and protect since it was approved in 1789.
Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who attended the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, wrote to John Adams explaining that "If the president alone was vested with the power of appointing all officers, ... he would be liable to be deceived by flatterers and pretenders to patriotism, who would have no motive but their own emolument. They would wish to extend the powers of the executive to increase their own importance...." NY Sun, continued...
Imagine a federal official with 'no motive but their own emolument.' For those who lack a dictionary, the OED defines 'emolument' as 'profit from employment or office.' Profit is not necessarily money. It can be nightly press conferences on CNN, which can do wonders for your agent when he shops around to get you some nice, well-paid speaking engagements. What smart guys those Founders were.
That is exactly what has happened in the case of Mr. Fitzgerald. The prosecutor himself acknowledged in an August 27, 2004 affidavit, "I serve as the functional equivalent of the attorney general on this matter." Yet he has been confirmed to no such job.... NY Sun, continued...
Bang! It's nice when an editorial writer bases his or her opinion on facts. It gives opinion the force of a rock thrown through a plate glass window, and you know about glass houses....
Luther
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