Morrison v. Olson

Morrison v. Olson
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 26, 1988 Decided June 29, 1988
Full case name	Alexia Morrison, Independent Counsel v. Theodore Olson, et al.
Citations	487 U.S. 654 (more) 108 S. Ct. 2597; 101 L. Ed. 2d 569; 1988 U.S. LEXIS 3034; 56 U.S.L.W. 4835
Case history
Prior	In re Sealed Case, 838 F.2d 476 (D.C. Cir. 1988); probable jurisdiction noted, 484 U.S. 1058 (1988).
Holding
The Independent Counsel Act's restriction on the power of the Attorney General to remove an inferior officer only for good cause does not violate the Appointments Clause. The Independent Counsel Act is constitutional, as it does not increase the power of the judiciary or legislative branches at the expense of the executive branch.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor
Dissent	Scalia
Kennedy took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. art. II

Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), was a Supreme Court of the United States decision that determined the Independent Counsel Act was constitutional. Morrison also set important precedent determining the scope of Congress's ability to encumber the President's authority to remove Officers of the United States from office. In Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2020), the Supreme Court distinguished Morrison as a narrow exception applying only to inferior officers.

Over the years, the case has become at least as well known for its lone dissent by Justice Antonin Scalia.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}