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SpankMe

(3,669 posts)
1. Someone educate me
Fri May 23, 2025, 11:25 AM
May 2025

If the Librarian of Congress and Register of Copyrights are under the legislative branch, how can the president fire them? Does the executive branch handle legislative's HR and pay processing, thus giving the executive leverage over legislative personnel via their paychecks? Wouldn't this be a separation of powers issue if true?

If the governor of a state tried to fire, say, the parliamentarian of the state's legislature, that parliamentarian could just say "no, I'm not leaving" and be safe.

But, if the governor had control over the payroll system, he or she could just stop paying the parliamentarian and turn off their badge for accessing buildings and computer systems and "fire" them that way if they refused to leave. That's clearly a separation of powers issue.

Does the legislative have their own payment and badging/access system separate from the executive? Or, is all that under OPM as well. And if it is all under OPM, then how can the president have sole control over this? Shouldn't this be a joint responsibility with the legislative?

And what about the judiciary? Who pays them? I know the congress can dissolve courts (except for the supreme court) but can the president "fire" individual judges by cancelling their pay, benefits and access? Are judges paid via the OPM?

I need a lecture on this.

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