BUCKLEY v. VALEO
1
Per Curiam
it is not now disputed-that the Clause controls the
appointment of the members of a typical administrative agency even though its functions, as this Court
recognized in Humphrey's Executor v. United States,
295 U. S. 602, 624 (1935), may be "predominantly
quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative" rather than executive. The Court in that case carefully emphasized that
although the members of such agencies were to be independent of the Executive in their day-to-day operations,
the Executive was not excluded from selecting them.
Id., at 625-626.
Appellees argue that the legislative authority conferred upon the Congress in Art. I, § 4, to regulate "the
Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives" is augmented by the provision
in § 5 that "Each House shall be the Judge of the
Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members." Section 5 confers, however, not a general legislative power upon the Congress, but rather a power "judicial in character" upon each House of the Congress.
Barry v. United States ex rel. Cunningham,279 U. S.597,
613 (1929). The power of each House to judge whether
one claiming election as Senator or Representative has
met the requisite qualifications, Powell v. McCormack,
395 U. S. 486 (1969), cannot reasonably be translated
into a power granted to the Congress itself to impose
substantive qualifications on the right to so hold such
office. Whatever power Congress may have to legislate,
such qualifications must derive from § 4, rather than § 5,
of Art. I.
Appellees also rely on the Twelfth Amendment to the
Constitution insofar as the authority of the Commission
to regulate practices in connection with the Presidential
election is concerned. This Amendment provides that
certificates of the votes of the electors be "sealed [and]
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