The question
Whether members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are principal officers who must be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, or inferior officers the Secretary of Health and Human Services may appoint.
Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc.
What the Court decided
The Court upheld the way members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are appointed. The Task Force decides which preventive health services insurers must cover at no cost under the Affordable Care Act. The Court held its members are inferior officers, because the Secretary of Health and Human Services can remove them at will and review their recommendations, so the Secretary may appoint them directly without Senate confirmation. The decision reverses the Fifth Circuit.
How the justices split
6-3The Court's opinion
Kavanaugh, joined by Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, Jackson
Task Force members are inferior officers because the Secretary of HHS can remove them at will and can review and block their recommendations before those recommendations bind insurers. An officer supervised and directed by a Senate-confirmed superior is an inferior officer, so the Secretary's direct appointment satisfies the Appointments Clause.
Dissenting
Thomas, joined by Alito, Gorsuch
The dissent would have held that Congress never authorized the Secretary of HHS to appoint Task Force members, so the appointments were invalid regardless of whether the members are principal or inferior officers.
How we know · 4 sourced claims
The Court held Task Force members are inferior officers whose appointment by the Secretary of HHS is consistent with the Appointments Clause.
Source: syllabus, Held, at 24-316
The members are inferior officers because the Secretary may remove them at will and review their recommendations.
Source: opinion of the Court (Kavanaugh, J.)
The decision reverses the Fifth Circuit.
Source: syllabus
Kavanaugh, J., wrote for the Court; Thomas, J., dissented, joined by Alito and Gorsuch, JJ.
Source: syllabus, lineup