The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. OSC's basic
Question:
The law creating the OSC states:
The Special Counsel shall be appointed by the President, byand with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of 5 years. The Special Counsel may continue to serve beyond the expiration of the term until a successor is appointed and hasqualified, except that the Special Counsel may not continue to serve for more than one year after the date on which the term of the Special Counsel would otherwise expire under this subsection. The Special Counsel shall be an attorney who, by demonstrated ability, background, training, or experience, is especially qualified to carry out the functions of the position. A Special Counsel appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the end of a term of office of the Special Counsel's predecessor serves for the remainder of the term. The Special Counsel may be removed by the President only forinefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. The SpecialCounsel may not hold another office or position in the Governmentof the United States, except as otherwise provided by law or at thedirection of the President.
See, 5 U.S.C. § 1211. For the most part, the OSC's investigative and prosecutor authority only extends to federal employees, federal agencies, and applicants for federalemployment.
The powers and functions of the OSC are:
(a) The Office of Special Counsel shall-
(1) in accordance with section 1214 and other applicableprovisions of this subchapter, protect employees, formeremployees, and applicants for employment from prohibitedpersonnel practices;
(2) receive and investigate allegations of prohibited personnel practices, and, where appropriate-
bring petitions for stays, and petitions for corrective action,under section 1214; and
file a complaint or make recommendations for disciplinaryaction under section 1215;
(3) receive, review, and, where appropriate, forward to theAttorney General or an agency head under section 1213,disclosures of violations of any law, rule, or regulation, or grossmismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or substantial and specific danger to public health or safety;
(4) review rules and regulations issued by the Director of theOffice of Personnel Management in carrying out functions undersection 1103 and, where the Special Counsel finds that any suchrule or regulation would, on its face or as implemented, require the commission of a prohibited personnel practice, file a writtencomplaint with the Board; and
(5) investigate and, where appropriate, bring actions concerningallegations of violations of other laws within the jurisdiction of theOffice of Special Counsel (as referred to in section 1216).
Significantly, in accordance with § 1212(a)(2) above, the OSC can bring actions againstfederal employees to have them terminated from their employment if the OSC believes theemployee has committed a prohibited personnel practice (PPP).2 OSC receives an annualappropriation of funds from Congress.
In Seila v. CFPB, the Supreme Court determined that the structure of the CFPB wasunconstitutional in that the law creating the CFPB restricted the President's ability to terminatethe Director of the CFPB.
Explain in detail whether - based on the Supreme Court'srationale in Seila - the structure of the OSC is constitutional.
Expert Answer:
Solution Based on the Supreme Courts rationale in Seila v CFPB it is likely that the structure of th... View the full answer
