This is the third part in our series of blog posts about the latest term of the Supreme Court. We'll get to some basic structural stuff in this post, with the question of non-state territories, over which the national government is often said to have a direct control. Does it? With regard to Puerto Rico, and possibly the District of Columbia: what does that entail? Obviously there are local authorities for both of those places -- heck there are also park rangers for national parks who have various sorts of discretion. But this isn't the federal layering of sovereigns we've heard about, is it? The Appointments Clause I'm looking at a clause of the constitution that seldom makes the headlines, but that is nonetheless of great importance within the overall system. Article II, sect. 2, clause 2, the "appointments clause." It says that that president shall nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Senate he shall appoint, all "officers of the Un...
