# Bowsher v. Synar > [!note] Stub > This is a short entry that hasn't been fully written yet. **478 U.S. 714, decided 7 July 1986**, Chief Justice Burger writing for the Court, with Justices Brennan, Powell, Rehnquist and O'Connor joining; Justice Stevens concurring in the judgment, joined by Justice Marshall; Justices White and Blackmun dissenting. The case struck down the automatic budget-sequestration mechanism of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, which had given the **Comptroller General** the job of determining what spending cuts the Act required and then directing the President to carry them out "without variation." The reasoning is what makes the case load-bearing for the removal-power line. Congress may remove the Comptroller General by joint resolution for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance — grounds far broader than the impeachment standard the Constitution sets for executive officers. Because of that retained power, the Court held, the officer remains answerable to Congress, and an officer answerable to Congress may not be handed the execution of a statute: "Congress in effect has retained control over the execution of the Act and has intruded into executive function." The remedy was to strike the executive duties, not the tenure. The Court leaned on [[INS v. Chadha]] for the proposition that Congress must abide by its own delegations until it changes them by legislation. Read alongside [[Trump v. Slaughter]], the two holdings state one rule from opposite ends: an officer insulated from the President may not execute the law, and an officer who executes the law may not be insulated from the President. See [[Agency Head Removal Protections Crosswalk]] for how that rule sorts the statutes. ## See also - [[Removal Power]] · [[Agency Head Removal Protections Crosswalk]] · [[Trump v. Slaughter]] · [[INS v. Chadha]] - [[Government Accountability Office]] · [[Separation of Powers]] · [[Unitary Executive Theory]]