712
Breyer, J., concurring in judgment
This constitutional delegation means still more. Article II makes a single President responsible for the actions of the Executive Branch in much the same way that the entire Congress is responsible for the actions of the Legislative Branch, or the entire Judiciary for those of the Judicial Branch. It thereby creates a constitutional equivalence between a single President, on the one hand, and many legislators, or judges, on the other.
The Founders created this equivalence by consciously deciding to vest Executive authority in one person rather than several. They did so in order to focus, rather than to spread, Executive responsibility thereby facilitating accountability. They also sought to encourage energetic, vigorous, decisive, and speedy execution of the laws by placing in the hands of a single, constitutionally indispensable, individual the ultimate authority that, in respect to the other branches, the Constitution divides among many. Compare U. S. Const., Art. II, § 1 (vesting power in "a President"), with U. S. Const., Art. I, § 1 (vesting power in "a Congress" that "consist[s] of a Senate and House of Representatives"), and U. S. Const., Art. III, § 1 (vesting power in a "supreme Court" and "inferior Courts").
The authority explaining the nature and importance of this decision is legion. See, e. g., J. Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government § 144 (J. Gough ed. 1947) (desirability of a perpetual Executive); 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *242- *243 (need for single Executive); The Federalist No. 70, p. 423 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (A. Hamilton) (Executive "[e]nergy" needed for security, "steady administration of the laws," "protection of property," "justice," and protection of "liberty"); Ellsworth, The Landholder, VI, in Essays on the Constitution 161, 163 (P. Ford ed. 1892) ("supreme executive should be one person, and unfettered otherwise than by the laws he is to execute"); Morrison v. Olson, 487 U. S. 654, 698-699 (1988) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (describing history); id., at 705 (describing textual basis); id., at 729 (describing
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