A statute permitted a special division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to appoint a special counsel to investigate high-ranking government officials suspected of misconduct. Theodore Olson, the subject of one such investigation, challenged a grand jury subpoena on the grounds that the independent counsel statute was unconstitutional. He argued that the special counsel was a principal officer that must be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Moreover, he claimed that the statute violated the separation of powers because it allowed the judiciary to appoint an executive branch official, interfered with the President’s power to enforce the law, and gave the courts a role in the investigation of crimes. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the statute, ruling that the special counsel was an inferior officer who could be appointed by the court, and that the special division’s involvement in the independent counsel’s work was sufficiently limited to avoid separation of powers concerns.

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