After nearly two years of investigation, the constitutionality of Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel has finally been affirmed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A lawsuit was filed in 2017 that argued that Mueller’s appointment was unconstitutional, but the appeals court just affirmed that the appointment was within the framework of constitutional and statutory authorities, in part due to precedent.
Constitutionality questioned
Mueller was first appointed to his role as special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was serving as acting attorney general in that circumstance after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recused himself from all matters related to Russia’s involvement with the 2016 Trump campaign.
The suit questioning the legality of Mueller’s appointment was filed by Andrew Miller, who was an aide to longtime Trump adviser and friend Roger Stone. Miller had been subpoenaed by Mueller to provide testimony as part of the Russia-collusion investigation.
However, Miller ignored the subpoena to appear before a grand jury and instead questioned whether Mueller had been properly appointed to his position in the first place, a circumstance that would render all actions stemming from that appointment null and void.
Judges issue ruling
But a district court disagreed with Miller’s argument and held him in contempt of court for his refusal to answer the subpoena and testify before the grand jury. That district court ruling was then appealed to the D.C. Circuit, where it was heard by a three-judge panel.
That panel — which included Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Judith Rogers, and Sri Srinivasan — recently issued a 16-page opinion that confirmed that Mueller’s appointment was indeed legal and affirmed the lower court’s decision to hold Miller in contempt.
The judges looked closely at a number of relevant statutes and prior precedent-setting cases that dealt with the constitutionality of independent and special counsels and their responsibilities in making their decision.
Facing the consequences
Ultimately, the judges ruled that special counsels, including Mueller’s, are legal as “inferior officers” of the Department of Justice. Indeed, they ruled, Rosenstein had all authority to appoint Mueller in 2017.
“Because the Special Counsel is an inferior officer, and the Deputy Attorney General became the head of the Department by virtue of becoming the Acting Attorney General as a result of a vacancy created by the disability of the Attorney General through recusal on the matter, we hold that Miller’s challenge to the appointment of the Special Counsel fails,” the judges ruled.
“Accordingly, we affirm the order finding Miller in civil contempt,” the opinion concluded.
This was a tough ruling for any who still questioned the basic legality of Mueller’s appointment as a special counsel, as it solidified that appointment on constitutional grounds. But just because he’s on the hunt doesn’t mean he’ll find any meat.
805 Responses
Its actually a cool and useful piece of information. Im satisfied that you just shared this useful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
wow, awesome blog article.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
Excellent site. Plenty of useful information here. I am sending it to a few friends ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks to your effort!
I simply couldn’t go away your web site before suggesting that I actually loved the usual info an individual supply in your guests? Is going to be back often in order to investigate cross-check new posts
Great, thanks for sharing this blog.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
I do agree with all the ideas you have presented in your post. They are really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are very short for newbies. Could you please extend them a bit from next time? Thanks for the post.
Really enjoyed this blog article.Really thank you! Great.
Great, thanks for sharing this blog post.
Hi there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a honest price? Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!
Helpful info. Fortunate me I discovered your site by accident, and I’m stunned why this accident did not took place in advance! I bookmarked it.
obviously like your website however you need to test the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very troublesome to inform the truth then again I will certainly come back again.
I really enjoy the post.Really looking forward to read more.
I just could not go away your site before suggesting that I actually loved the standard information a person supply in your visitors? Is going to be back frequently in order to inspect new posts.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
Bardzo interesujący temat, doceniam to za wystawienie się Spirometr do ćwiczeń oddechowych.
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this brilliant blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will talk about this blog with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
Howdy are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you require any html coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
Very good blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any message boards that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get advice from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Many thanks!
Awesome blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog stand out. Please let me know where you got your design. Cheers
Hi there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to take a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Great blog and great design.
Wonderful blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any discussion boards that cover the same topics talked about here? I’d really like to be a part of online community where I can get comments from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Bless you!
I like this post, enjoyed this one regards for posting. “Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.” by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
I was studying some of your content on this website and I believe this web site is very informative ! Keep on posting .
Have you ever considered about adding a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and everything. But just imagine if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this blog could certainly be one of the greatest in its field. Amazing blog!
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
Im grateful for the article.Much thanks again. Great.
Hey, thanks for the post.
Thank you for helping out, good info. “Our individual lives cannot, generally, be works of art unless the social order is also.” by Charles Horton Cooley.
I have not checked in here for a while since I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your post seem to be running off the screen in Firefox. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon. Many thanks
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your article seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon. Kudos
This is one awesome article post. Fantastic.
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate to this fantastic blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to fresh updates and will share this site with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
I am also writing to make you be aware of of the terrific encounter my princess went through viewing the blog. She picked up numerous details, including what it’s like to have an awesome coaching style to get the mediocre ones smoothly master some extremely tough things. You actually exceeded people’s desires. Many thanks for delivering those interesting, healthy, revealing and cool tips about that topic to Tanya.
Really enjoyed this blog.Much thanks again. Really Great.
I really liked your blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Want more.
I as well as my guys appeared to be going through the nice helpful hints found on your web blog while all of the sudden I got an awful feeling I had not expressed respect to the site owner for those tips. Most of the ladies ended up totally happy to read all of them and now have in reality been enjoying those things. Thank you for simply being very kind and for picking out this kind of decent tips most people are really desirous to discover. Our honest apologies for not saying thanks to you sooner.
Wonderful website you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of online community where I can get responses from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Thanks a lot!
Wow, wonderful weblog format! How long have you ever been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The total glance of your website is magnificent, let alone the content!
A round of applause for your article. Will read on…