It is indeed by the Chief.
Who had the chief for Seila Law and Breyer for June Medical?
The CFPB's leadership structure, which features a single head removable only for inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance violates the separation of powers.
The agency survives, with only it's for-cause removal provision declared unconstitutional.
The Chief then writes that the removal protection CAN be severed from the other statutory provisions bearing on the CFPB's authority. "The agency may therefore continue to operate, but its Director, in light of our decision, must be removable by the President at will."
I'm seeing the publisher of a well-known blog that covers the Supreme Court on MSNBC right now.
Kagan has an opinion concurring in the judgment w/r/to severability and dissenting in part that is joined by RBG, Breyer and Sotomayor.
Thomas, joined by Gorsuch, concurs in part and dissents in part. He would not address severability; he would "simply deny the CFPB petition to enforce" the request for documents from Seila Law.
An initial quick read suggests that the decision is laying the groundwork for eliminating for-cause protection for most other independent agencies. The majority opinion describes Humphrey's Executor -- the case that initially allowed independent agencies -- this way: "In short, Humphrey’s Executor permitted Congress to give for-cause removal protections to a multimember body of experts, balanced along partisan lines, that performed legislative and judicial functions and was said not to exercise any executive power." The majority then refuses to "extend" Humphrey's Executor to this case.
Kagan disagrees on the question of whether the leadership structure is unconstitutional, but she agrees on the severability question.
Just a note that the watcher count has surpassed 15,000. Thanks for tuning in.
Wow. That turned out to be a busy 30 minutes. I am covering all three of these cases, so I am going to drop off now, but hopefully Kevin and Steve can stick around to answer some more of your questions. The good news is that we will be back again in less than 24 hours! We'll try to start a little bit earlier so that we can answer more questions -- maybe 9:20 or so. Thanks again for joining us, stay well, and hope to see you tomorrow.
All, I've got to run. Nice to have spent the morning with you.
Folks, I am going to sign off. Let's do this all again, as LawGhost says, Tomorrow.
Thanks for joining. Analysis of all three of today's decisions is coming from Amy - send her your strength - as well as from a slate of contributors on the decision in June Medical Services. 10 still to go, with opinions for sure tomorrow. We'll be back here tomorrow morning. Until then, enjoy the rest of your Monday!
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