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![handle is hein.gao/gaobabjcw0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
* COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON D.C. 20548
B-202482 April 7, 1981
The Honorable Spark M. Matsunaga
United States Senate
Dear Senator Matsunaga:
We refer to, our letter of March 12, 1981, in which you
Cask whether the LPresident's dismissal of t-e---i-n-e-membe-r-s-e-f
tite Native Hawaiians Study Commission wa-s--imp /2,del-rJ
IThe Native Hawaiians Study Commission was established by
Title III of Public Law 96-565, December 22, 1980, 94 Stat.
3321, 3324. The purpose of this Commission is/to conduct a
study of the culture, needs and concerns of Native Hawaiians.i
You advise us that on January 19, 1981, President Carter duly
appointed the Commissioners and designated the Commission's
Chairman and Vice-Chairman. You further advise that [President
Reagan dismissed the nine Commissioners on March 11, 1981, and
you ask whether such dismissal is improper-,
President's Removal Authority
With regard to appointments Article II, Section 2, clause
2, of the United States Constitution provides in pertinent part
as follows:
* * * [The President] shall nominate, and
by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate,
shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers
and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and
all other Officers of the United States, whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided
for, and which shall be established by Law: but
the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of
such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in
the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in
the Heads of Departments.
rThe Constitution is silent concerning the President's
power to remove civil officers. However, it is well estab-
lished that the President's power to remove executive officers
is generally incident to his power of appointment Shurtleff v.
United States, 189 U.S. 311 (1903) and Myers v. United States,
272 U.S. 52 (1926). As stated by the Court in Myers at 117:
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