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These provisions are qualified by a reservation in the fourth section,
"that nothing contained in the bill shall be construed to extend the
term of any office the duration of which is limited by law." In effect
the bill provides that the President shall not remove from their places
any of the civil officers whose terms of service are not limited by law
without the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States. The
bill in this respect conflicts, in my judgment, with the Constitution
of the United States. The question, as Congress is well aware, is by no
means a new one. That the power of removal is constitutionally vested
in the President of the United States is a principle which has been not
more distinctly declared by judicial authority and judicial commentators
than it has been uniformly practiced upon by the legislative and
executive departments of the Government. The question arose in the House
of Representatives so early as the 16th of June, 1789, on the bill for
establishing an Executive Department denominated "the Department of
Foreign Affairs.


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