BUCKLEY v. VALEO
1
Per Curiam
ber 3 the Convention debated the Ineligibility and Incompatibility Clauses which now appear in Art. I, and
made the Ineligibility Clause somewhat less stringent.'72
Meanwhile, on Friday, August 31, a motion had been
carried without opposition to refer such parts of the
Constitution as had been postponed or not acted upon
to a Committee of Eleven. Such reference carried with
it both Arts. IX and X. The following week the Committee of Eleven made its report to the Convention, in
which the present language of Art. II, § 2, cl. 2, dealing
with the authority of the President to nominate is found,
virtually word for word, as § 4 of Art. X.178 The same
Committee also reported a revised article concerning the
Legislative Branch to the Convention. The changes are
obvious. In the final version, the Senate is shorn of its
power to appoint Ambassadors and Judges of the Supreme Court. The President is given, not the power to
appoint public officers of the United States, but only the
right to nominate them, and a provision is inserted by
virtue of which Congress may require Senate confirmation
of his nominees.
It would seem a fair surmise that a compromise had
been made. But no change was made in the concept of
the term "Officers of the United States," which since
it had first appeared in Art. X had been taken by all
concerned to embrace all appointed officials exercising
responsibility under the public laws of the Nation.
Appellee Commission and amici urge that because of
what they conceive to be the extraordinary authority
reposed in Congress to regulate elections, this case stands
on a different footing than if Congress had exercised its
legislative authority in another field. There is, of course,
no doubt that Congress has express authority to regulate
17-2Id.,
173
at 571-573.
Id., at 575.
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