The Unitary Executive

Do you wonder what that means? That's OK. Do you not really want to know? You must be a Senator.

For the rest of us, Ronald Cass on RealClearPolitics clears things up nicely.

Of course, the theory of the “unitary executive,” as Judge Alito has explained ad nauseam, has nothing at all to say about the scope of executive power. It has nothing to say about how that power is granted or how it is checked.

Instead, the theory says that “the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States.” Those are, in fact, the words of the first clause in Article II of the Constitution. This means that the President is in charge of the executive branch and that executive power is to be given to people who work for – and are in important ways controlled by – the President. This means that Congress can’t pass a law, even with the President’s approval, giving executive authority to people who work for Congress or for the courts.