. . . it's not a pretty sight.
Keith Olbermann and his fellow liberal "fact-checkers" are wrong again. From The Volokh Conspiracy:
I happend to catch the very beginning of "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann. His lead story was on John McCain's statement that if he were President he would "fire" Chris Cox as Chairman of the SEC, explaining that the Chairman of the FTC is appointed by and serves at the will of the President.
Olbermann sarcastically commented that McCain needs to learn about constitutional law and that it would be "unconstitutional" to try to fire the head of the SEC. He says that MSNBC's legal advisor . . . told him this, referring to a "1935 case where the Supreme Court held that it would be unconstitutional to fire a member of an independent agency."
Well, no. Actually, he's not even close.
First, of course, the case he is referring to is Humphrey's Executor v. United States, which was triggered when FDR tried to remove a sitting member of the FTC. The Supreme Court did not hold that removing a Commissioner was unconstitutional; it held that Congress could provide for limitations on the President's removal power over members of independent agencies. So this is just intellectual confusion on Olbermann's part. I had a quote from Humphrey's Executor as my screensaver when I was at the FTC (how's that for nerdy?).
Second, there is a more practical confusion. Olbermann, and perhaps Williams too, are confused as to what McCain said and what the President can do. True, the President cannot fire a member of an independent agency. But the Chairman does serve as Chairman at the discretion of the President. The President can designate any of the 5 members of the Commission as Chairman. Or change the designation. Confirmation to be a Commissioner requires Senate confirmation; confirmation to be Chair does not. The Chairmanship of independent agencies does not operate the same way as the Supreme Court. For the Supreme Court, a sitting Justice who is elevated to Chief must be reconfirmed for the new post. But a sitting Commissioner who is designated Chair does not need a separate confirmation. Thus, the President can "fire" Cox by removing him as Chair but cannot fire him as a Commissioner.
So, Olbermann is wrong.
Leftist "fact checkers" are wrong. Leftist blogs that ran sarastic, screaming headlines about this all day Thursday, impugning McCain's knowledge and intellect, are -- ironically and egg-on-their-faces-dramatically -- wrong. Again.
In other words, its just another typical day.
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