how to start your second paragraph in an opinion essay

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Opinion essay – the power and importance of effective writing.

When it comes to expressing one’s viewpoint, the written word holds tremendous power. An opinion essay, also known as a persuasive essay, allows individuals to convey their beliefs, values, and perspectives on a particular subject. It serves as a platform for writers to convince readers of their stance by presenting logical arguments backed by evidence and examples. Crafting an exceptional opinion essay requires a combination of critical thinking skills, efficient research, and persuasive writing techniques. In this article, we will explore some useful strategies and tips to help you master the art of writing a remarkable opinion essay.

Step 1: Choosing a Compelling Topic

The first step in writing an outstanding opinion essay is selecting a compelling topic that resonates with your interests and offers ample scope for debate. The key is to choose a subject that is thought-provoking, relevant, and engaging to your target audience. Brainstorm ideas, conduct preliminary research, and identify unique angles or perspectives within your chosen topic. This will help you narrow down your focus and provide a solid foundation for constructing a compelling argument.

Step 2: Developing a Clear Thesis Statement

Once you have selected a topic, the next step is to develop a clear and concise thesis statement that encapsulates the main argument of your essay. The thesis statement should articulate your stance on the topic and provide a roadmap for the rest of your essay. A strong thesis statement is specific, debatable, and supported by compelling evidence. It serves as the backbone of your essay and helps ensure coherence and clarity in your writing.

Step 3: Researching and Gathering Evidence

An excellent opinion essay is built on a foundation of thorough research and credible evidence. To strengthen your argument, conduct in-depth research on your topic using reputable sources such as scholarly articles, books, and reputable websites. Take notes, highlight key points, and gather evidence to support your thesis statement. It is critical to ensure that the evidence you present is accurate, reliable, and relevant to your argument.

Step 4: Structuring Your Essay

A well-structured essay is crucial for conveying your ideas effectively. Begin with an attention-grabbing introduction that provides background information on the topic and hooks the reader. Follow this with a well-organized body that presents your main points, supported by evidence and examples. Use paragraphs to separate different ideas and ensure logical flow throughout the essay. Finally, conclude your essay by summarizing your main arguments and reinforcing your thesis statement.

Step 5: Polishing Your Writing

To write an exceptional opinion essay, it is essential to pay attention to the finer details of your writing. Ensure that your grammar, spelling, and punctuation are flawless. Use clear and concise language to convey your ideas effectively, and avoid vague or ambiguous statements. Additionally, consider the tone and style of your writing, adapting it to suit your target audience. Finally, revise and edit your essay to eliminate any errors or inconsistencies and ensure a polished final product.

By following these tips and strategies, you can elevate your opinion essay writing skills and effectively communicate your viewpoint to persuade and engage your readers. Remember, practice makes perfect, so seize every opportunity to refine your writing and express your opinions with confidence and conviction.

Choose a compelling topic that sparks interest

In order to captivate your readers and make your opinion essay stand out, it is essential to carefully select a topic that evokes curiosity and engages their interest. The topic you choose should be thought-provoking, relevant, and have the potential to generate a strong emotional response among your target audience.

When selecting a topic, consider what subjects or issues you are genuinely passionate about. By choosing a topic that genuinely sparks your interest, you are more likely to convey genuine enthusiasm and engage your readers. Additionally, consider the current societal or cultural climate, as well as any ongoing debates or controversies, as these can provide excellent sources of inspiration for your opinion essay.

Furthermore, always try to choose a topic that is unique and original. While it can be tempting to select a popular or trending topic, keep in mind that many other writers may have already covered these subjects extensively. To make your essay truly standout, it is important to select a topic that is less explored or offer a fresh perspective on a well-established topic. This will not only capture the attention of your readers but also demonstrate your ability to think critically and provide a unique viewpoint.

Overall, selecting a compelling topic that sparks interest is crucial for the success of your opinion essay. By choosing a topic that you are passionate about, exploring current debates or controversies, and offering a unique perspective, you can ensure that your essay captivates your audience and stands out among others.

Develop a strong thesis statement to guide your essay

One of the most crucial elements of writing an outstanding opinion essay is developing a strong thesis statement to serve as a guiding point for your entire essay. The thesis statement is a concise and clear statement that presents the main argument or standpoint of your essay. It should be a single sentence that encompasses the essence of your opinion and sets the tone for the rest of your writing.

The thesis statement acts as a roadmap that helps both you as the writer and your readers to navigate through your essay. It provides a clear direction and purpose to your writing, giving your readers a sense of what to expect and what stance you will take on the given topic.

When developing your thesis statement, it is important to choose a strong and specific argument that can be supported with evidence and examples throughout your essay. Avoid general or vague statements that lack clarity and precision. Instead, opt for a statement that is debatable and provokes thought and discussion.

To develop a strong thesis statement, start by brainstorming and generating ideas related to your topic. Consider the main points you want to make and the key arguments you want to present in your essay. Once you have a clear understanding of your position, craft a concise sentence that encapsulates your main argument.

In the weak thesis statement example, the argument is vague and lacks specific reasons. On the other hand, the strong thesis statement clearly outlines the negative effects of fast food consumption and provides specific points that will be addressed in the essay.

Remember, a strong thesis statement sets the foundation for a well-structured and persuasive opinion essay. It serves as a guide for your writing and helps you stay focused on your main argument throughout your essay.

Use reliable sources to support your arguments

When crafting an opinion essay, it is crucial to back up your arguments with evidence from credible sources. Utilizing reliable sources will not only strengthen your arguments but also lend credibility to your essay.

When searching for sources to support your opinions, look for reputable websites, scholarly articles, and books written by experts in the field. It is important to ensure that the sources you use are reliable and trustworthy. This can be achieved by checking the author’s credentials and reputation, as well as the publication or website’s credibility.

Using credible sources shows that you have done thorough research and are presenting well-informed opinions. It demonstrates to your readers that your arguments are backed by evidence and are not simply based on personal beliefs or biases. By using reliable sources, you are contributing to the overall quality and validity of your essay.

By utilizing these types of sources, you can ensure that your arguments are well-supported and grounded in factual information. It is also important to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism and give credit to the original authors.

Remember, using reliable sources not only strengthens your arguments but also adds credibility to your opinions. Take the time to thoroughly research and find sources that are respected and trustworthy to enhance the quality of your opinion essay.

Structure your essay with clear and logical paragraphs

When it comes to crafting an impressive opinion essay, one crucial aspect to focus on is the structure of your paragraphs. By dividing your essay into clear and logical paragraphs, you can effectively communicate your ideas and arguments to your readers.

A well-structured essay is like a well-organized house, where each room serves a specific purpose. Similarly, each paragraph in your essay should have a clear topic and contribute to the overall argument. This helps your readers understand the flow of your thoughts and makes it easier for them to follow your reasoning.

• Introductory paragraph: This paragraph should grab the reader’s attention and provide some background information about the topic. It should also include your thesis statement, which states your opinion on the subject.
• Body paragraphs: The body of your essay should consist of several paragraphs, each focusing on a different point or argument. Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph. Provide supporting evidence and examples to strengthen your arguments.
• Counterargument paragraph: In an opinion essay, it’s important to address counterarguments and refute them. Dedicate a paragraph to acknowledging opposing viewpoints and explaining why they are not valid.
• Conclusion: The concluding paragraph should summarize your main points and restate your thesis. It should leave the reader with a clear understanding of your opinion and the arguments you have presented.

By structuring your essay with clear and logical paragraphs, you can make your arguments more persuasive and help your readers navigate through your ideas effortlessly. Remember to use transition words and phrases to ensure a smooth flow between paragraphs, creating a cohesive and coherent essay.

Conclude with a persuasive and memorable closing statement

As you reach the end of your opinion essay, it is crucial to leave your readers with a strong and impactful final thought. Your closing statement should aim to persuade and leave a lasting impression on your audience. By carefully crafting your closing statement, you can effectively summarize your main arguments and leave your readers with a clear and persuasive call to action or thought-provoking idea.

To create a persuasive and memorable closing statement, consider recapping your main points and reinforcing the central theme of your essay. By reminding your readers of the key arguments you have presented, you can reinforce your position and demonstrate the strength of your opinion. Additionally, you can also use your closing statement to connect your essay’s topic to a broader context or real-world implications, emphasizing the importance of your opinion.

Furthermore, a memorable closing statement should make your readers think and reflect. It can be effective to pose a thought-provoking question, challenge common assumptions, or present a powerful anecdote or statistic. By engaging your readers’ emotions and encouraging critical thinking, you can leave a lasting impact and potentially inspire further discussion or action on the topic you have written about.

Remember to keep your closing statement concise and focused. Avoid introducing new arguments or information that may dilute the impact of your overall essay. Instead, aim for clarity and a memorable ending that reinforces your main points and leaves a strong impression on your readers.

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Opinion Essays – Step-by-Step Instructions

Home / Blog / Write An Opinion Essay

Introduction

What makes an opinion essay truly compelling? Why do some essays resonate while others fall flat? The art of opinion writing is not just about sharing your thoughts; it is about persuading, informing, and engaging your readers. Today, we will learn all about crafting an impactful opinion essay.

So, how do you transform your opinions into powerful words that leave a lasting impression? Let us dive in and discover the keys to success in opinion writing.

What Is an Opinion Essay?

An opinion essay is a written work where an author expresses their viewpoint on a particular topic or issue. Unlike other essays that primarily rely on factual information and objective analysis, an opinion essay is inherently subjective, emphasizing the writer's beliefs, feelings, and perspectives.

Opinion essays are prevalent in various contexts, from academic assignments and journalism to blogs and editorials. They serve as a platform for individuals to express themselves, share their unique perspectives, and contribute to meaningful discussions on various subjects.

What Kind of Student Faces an Opinion Essay?

Let us explore the characteristics and educational contexts where opinion essays are commonly encountered:

1. High School Students:

High school students are frequently introduced to opinion essays as part of their English or language arts curriculum. These essay help students develop fundamental writing skills and the ability to express their viewpoints coherently. Opinion essays at this level often revolve around personal experiences, literary analysis, or current events, fostering critical thinking and communication skills.

2. College and University Students:

College and university students encounter opinion essays across various disciplines, from humanities and social sciences to natural sciences and engineering. In college, opinion essays become more sophisticated, requiring students to delve into scholarly research, cite academic sources, and formulate well-supported arguments. These essays are instrumental in promoting research skills, academic writing proficiency, and the ability to synthesize complex information.

3. Graduates and Postgraduates:

Graduate and postgraduate students frequently engage in opinion essays as part of their coursework and research activities. At this level, opinion essays may take the form of thesis proposals, research position papers, or responses to academic debates. These essays serve as essential paraphrasing tool for contributing to the scholarly discourse within their fields.

4. Law Students:

Law students encounter opinion essays in the form of legal memoranda, case briefs, or persuasive arguments. These essays hone their legal writing and argumentative essay topics skills.

In the legal profession, constructing well-reasoned opinions is vital, as lawyers often need to advocate for their clients' positions.

5. Journalism and Communication Students:

Students pursuing journalism or communication degrees frequently write opinion pieces, such as editorials and op-eds. Opinion essays in this context train students to effectively convey their thoughts to a broader audience while adhering to ethical and journalistic standards.

6. Political Science and Philosophy Students:

Political science or philosophy students delve into opinion essays as they explore complex political ideologies, ethical dilemmas, and philosophical debates. Opinion essays in these disciplines require students to analyze and critically evaluate different perspectives, fostering a deep understanding of complex issues.

7. MBA and Business Students:

MBA and business students encounter opinion essays in business ethics, strategic management, and decision-making courses. These essays sharpen their ability to make informed, ethical business judgments and communicate their rationale effectively.

8. ESL and Non-Native English Speakers:

Students learning English as a second language (ESL) or non-native English speakers may face opinion essays to enhance their language proficiency. Opinion essays help ESL students develop language skills while expressing their thoughts on diverse essay topics .

What Are the Requirements of an Opinion Essay?

Here are the key elements that should be present in an opinion essay:

1. Clear and Concise Thesis Statement:

Every opinion essay should start with a well-defined thesis statement. This statement is the heart of your essay, succinctly summarizing your main argument or viewpoint. It should be placed in the introduction, typically towards the end of that section.

 2. Introduction:

• The introduction serves as the opening of your essay, capturing the reader's attention and providing essential context for the topic.
• Begin with a compelling hook, which can be a thought-provoking question, an interesting fact, a relevant quote, or a brief anecdote.
• Clearly present your thesis statement, outlining your opinion on the issue.
• Provide a brief overview of the points you intend to discuss in the essay's body, setting the reader's expectations.

3. Well-Structured Body Paragraphs:

• The body of your opinion essay should consist of several well-organized paragraphs, each dedicated to a specific aspect or supporting point related to your thesis.
• Start each paragraph with a clear topic sentence directly connecting to your thesis statement.
• Offer substantial evidence, examples, statistics, or personal experiences to support your viewpoint. Ensure the evidence is relevant and convincing.
• Maintain a logical flow between paragraphs, using transitional words and phrases to guide the reader seamlessly through your arguments.

4. Acknowledgment of Counterarguments:

• A robust opinion essay acknowledges opposing viewpoints or counterarguments. This demonstrates your ability to consider alternative perspectives and strengthens your own argument.
• Counterarguments can be addressed within the body paragraphs or in a dedicated paragraph where you present, discuss, and ultimately refute opposing views.

5. Conclusion:

• The conclusion should serve as the closing of your essay, summarizing your thesis statement and the main points presented in the body.
• However, avoid mere repetition of the introduction. Instead, offer a broader perspective, leaving the reader with something to contemplate, such as a thought-provoking idea, a call to action, or a suggestion for further exploration.
• Conclude your essay with a sense of closure, ensuring your final words leave a lasting impression.

6. Evidence and Examples:

Support your opinion with credible evidence, such as research findings, assignment expert opinions, or real-life examples. This lends credibility to your argument and makes it more persuasive.

7. Proper Citation:

If your essay includes external sources or references, ensure proper citation following the required citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago). Correct citation is essential to maintain academic integrity and prevent plagiarism.

8. Editing and Proofreading:

• Before finalizing your opinion essay, perform a thorough edit and proofread. Check for grammar and spelling errors, as well as clarity and coherence.
• Consider seeking peer, instructor, or professional editor feedback to ensure your essay is polished and error-free.

Opinion Essay Topics

Here are ten broad subject areas for opinion essay topics

1. Technology:

• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Employment
• Is Social Media Beneficial or Harmful for Society?
• The Ethics of Data Privacy in the Digital Age
• Should Technology Be Used in Education More Extensively?
• Is Online Learning as Effective as Traditional Education?
• The Role of Technology in Solving Environmental Issues
• Are Smartphones a Necessity or a Distraction in Daily Life?
• The Pros and Cons of Video Games for Children
• Is Technology Making Us More or Less Connected to Each Other?
• The Future of Work in a World Dominated by Automation

2. Education:

• Standardized Testing: Does It Accurately Measure Student Abilities?
• The Impact of Homeschooling on Children's Development
• Should Schools Implement Uniform Dress Codes?
• The Role of Arts Education in Academic Curriculum
• Are College Degrees Still Worth the Investment?
• The Benefits and Drawbacks of Online Education
• Should Schools Teach Financial Literacy as a Mandatory Subject?
• The Influence of Teachers on Students' Success
• Does Homework Enhance or Impede Learning?
• The Importance of Inclusive Education for Special Needs Students

3. Environment:

• The Responsibility of Individuals in Combating Climate Change
• Should Plastic Bags and Bottles Be Banned to Reduce Pollution?
• The Impact of Deforestation on Biodiversity
• Renewable Energy Sources vs. Fossil Fuels: Which is Better?
• Should Governments Implement Carbon Tax to Reduce Emissions?
• The Ethics of Animal Testing in Scientific Research
• Is Sustainable Living Achievable for Everyone?
• The Role of Urban Planning in Creating Eco-Friendly Cities
• Are Electric Vehicles the Future of Transportation?
• The Effectiveness of Recycling Programs in Reducing Waste

4. Politics and Government:

• The Importance of Voting in a Democracy
• Is Political Correctness Beneficial or Restrictive to Free Speech?
• Should Term Limits Be Imposed on Elected Officials?
• The Role of Social Media in Shaping Political Opinions
• Universal Healthcare vs. Private Healthcare: Pros and Cons
• The Impact of Immigration Policies on Society
• Should Affirmative Action Still Be Implemented?
• Is Political Polarization a Threat to Democracy?
• The Influence of Lobbying and Special Interest Groups on Politics
• Should the Voting Age Be Lowered or Raised?

5. Health and Wellness:

• The Pros and Cons of a Vegetarian or Vegan Diet
• The Impact of Fast Food on Public Health
• Should Vaccination Be Mandatory for All Children?
• The Benefits and Risks of Legalizing Marijuana
• The Role of Mental Health Education in Schools
• Is Healthcare a Basic Human Right?
• The Ethics of Genetic Engineering and Designer Babies
• The Impact of Stress on Physical and Mental Health
• Is Alternative Medicine a Valid Alternative to Conventional Medicine?
• The Influence of Advertising on Unhealthy Eating Habits

6. Social Issues:

• The Role of Social Media in Promoting Body Image Issues
• The Impact of Income Inequality on Society
• Is Capital Punishment Ethical or Inhumane?
• The Importance of Gender Equality in the Workplace
• Should Animal Testing Be Banned for Cosmetic Products?
• The Ethics of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
• The Influence of Celebrity Culture on Young People
• Is Online Bullying a Serious Threat to Mental Health?
• The Role of Government in Combating Homelessness

7. Economics:

• The Effects of Inflation on Consumer Purchasing Power
• Is Globalization Beneficial or Harmful to Developing Countries?
• The Impact of Minimum Wage Laws on Employment
• The Role of Cryptocurrency in Modern Finance
• Should Governments Provide Universal Basic Income?
• The Ethics of Corporate Social Responsibility
• The Pros and Cons of Trade Tariffs
• Is Economic Growth Sustainable in the Long Term?
• The Influence of Consumerism on Environmental Degradation
• The Role of Government Regulation in Preventing Financial Crises

8. Science and Technology Ethics:

• The Ethical Implications of Human Gene Editing
• Should Artificial Intelligence Have Legal Rights?
• The Use of Facial Recognition Technology: Privacy vs. Security
• The Dangers and Benefits of Biotechnology Advancements
• The Ethics of Cloning Animals for Human Consumption
• Is Privacy Invasion Justified in the Name of National Security?
• The Impact of 3D Printing on Intellectual Property Rights
• Should Autonomous Weapons Be Banned?
• The Ethical Considerations of Using CRISPR for Genetic Enhancement
• Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost and Environmental Impact?

9. Culture and Society:

• The Influence of Pop Culture on Young People's Behavior
• Should Cultural Appropriation Be Condemned or Celebrated?
• The Importance of Preserving Indigenous Languages and Cultures
• The Role of Music in Shaping Social and Political Movements
• Should Museums Return Stolen Artifacts to Their Countries of Origin?
• The Impact of Reality TV Shows on Society's Perception of Reality
• Is Online Dating a Positive or Negative Trend in Modern Relationships?
• The Ethics of Cultural Tourism and Its Impact on Local Communities
• Should Schools Teach More Diverse History and Literature?
• The Role of Literature and Art in Promoting Social Change

10. Ethics and Morality:

• The Ethics of Physician-Assisted Suicide for Terminal Patients
• Is Lying Ever Justified in Moral Dilemmas?
• The Role of Religion in Shaping Personal Morality
• The Ethics of Animal Rights: Should Animals Have Legal Personhood?
• Is Forgiveness a Virtue or a Weakness?
• The Moral Implications of Cloning Humans
• The Ethics of Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence
• Should Government Surveillance Be Permitted for National Security?
• The Role of Free Will in Determining Moral Responsibility
• Is It Ethical to Experiment on Animals for Scientific Research?

Opinion Essay Structure

Here is a breakdown of the essential elements:

1. Introduction:

• Hook: Begin with an attention-grabbing hook, such as a question, fact, quote, or anecdote, to engage the reader's interest.
• Thesis Statement:  Present your clear and concise thesis statement. This statement is the foundation of your essay and encapsulates your main argument or opinion on the topic.
• Preview:  Offer a brief overview of the main points or arguments you will discuss in the body of the essay. This sets the reader's expectations.

2. Body Paragraphs:

• Topic Sentences: Start each body paragraph with a clear topic sentence that relates directly to your thesis statement.
• Supporting Evidence: Provide evidence, examples, statistics, or expert opinions that support each argument. Ensure that the evidence is relevant and compelling.
• Transition Sentences: Use transitional words and phrases to guide the reader smoothly from one point to the next. This creates coherence and logical flow.
• Counterarguments:  Address opposing viewpoints within the body of your essay, demonstrating your ability to evaluate different perspectives critically. This adds depth and persuasiveness to your argument.

3. Conclusion:

• Restate Thesis: Restate your thesis statement and summarize your main argument.
• Summarize Main Points: Summarize the key points or arguments you've presented in the essay's body.
• Broaden Perspective: Move beyond mere repetition of the introduction. Offer a broader perspective on the topic, leaving the reader with something to contemplate, such as the significance of your opinion or a call to action.
• Closing Thoughts: End with a thought-provoking closing thought, question, or statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Opinion Essay Examples

Here is an example for you -

The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Social media has become an integral part of our lives in today's digital age. While it offers various benefits, like staying connected with friends and accessing information, its influence on mental health has been a growing concern. This essay explores the impact of social media on mental well-being, arguing that while it has some advantages, it can also have detrimental effects.

Introduction:

The introduction provides a clear thesis statement: "This essay argues that social media has both positive and negative impacts on mental health." It engages the reader's interest with a hook, such as a startling statistic about social media usage or a relevant quote.

Body Paragraphs:

The body of the essay is divided into several paragraphs, each focusing on a specific aspect of the argument:

Positive Aspects:  This paragraph discusses the positive impact of social media, such as fostering connections, providing support networks, and raising awareness of mental health issues. It includes examples and statistics to support these points.

Negative Aspects:  Here, the essay delves into the negative effects of social media, including cyberbullying, social comparison, and addiction. Real-life examples and studies are cited to illustrate these harmful consequences.

Counterarguments: To address opposing viewpoints, the essay checker acknowledges that some studies suggest a limited negative impact of social media. However, it refutes these arguments with counter-studies and expert opinions, emphasizing the overall negative trend.

Conclusion:

The conclusion restates the thesis and summarizes the main points from the body paragraphs. It provides a balanced perspective by acknowledging the positive and negative aspects of social media's impact on mental health. The essay ends with a thought-provoking statement, encouraging the reader to consider their own relationship with social media and its effects on their well-being.

Additional Considerations:

The essay's clear topic sentences, evidence, and transitions between paragraphs maintain coherence. The essay follows a formal tone, uses proper grammar and citations, and avoids jargon. It provides a comprehensive overview of the topic while presenting a well-structured argument that engages the reader and encourages critical thinking.

Crafting top-notch and perfect opinion essay writing is not just about expressing your viewpoint; it is about constructing a persuasive and well-structured argument. You can effectively communicate your opinions by adhering to the fundamental elements of a clear thesis statement, an engaging introduction, well-supported body paragraphs, and a thought-provoking conclusion.

Remember to acknowledge opposing viewpoints, use evidence judiciously, and maintain a formal tone. Opinion essays are a powerful platform for sharing your thoughts, contributing to meaningful discussions, and refining your writing and critical thinking skills. You can craft opinion essays that resonate and persuade effectively with the right structure and approach.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. what is the key to a successful opinion essay.

The key to a successful opinion essay is a clear and compelling thesis statement that presents your main argument. Support your viewpoint with relevant evidence, maintain a logical structure, and acknowledge opposing perspectives.

Q2. How can I make my introduction engaging?

Start with a captivating hook, like a thought-provoking question or a surprising fact. Clearly state your thesis statement, and briefly preview the main points you will discuss.

Q3. What role do counterarguments play in an opinion essay?

Counterarguments demonstrate your critical thinking skills and strengthen your argument by addressing opposing viewpoints. You can acknowledge counterarguments within your essay and then refute them.

Q4. How can I ensure my opinion essay is well-structured?

Organize your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs focusing on specific points, and a conclusion summarizing your argument. Use transitional words for coherence.

Q5. Should I include personal experiences in my opinion essay?

Yes, personal experiences can enhance your essay's authenticity. However, ensure they are relevant to your argument and used as supporting evidence, not as the sole basis of your viewpoint.

Q6. How can I find credible evidence for my opinion essay?

Utilize reputable sources like academic journals, books, and expert opinions. Ensure your sources are recent and authoritative to bolster the credibility of your argument.

Q7. What is the difference between an opinion and a persuasive essay?

While both aim to persuade, an opinion essay primarily expresses your viewpoint. A persuasive essay focuses on convincing the reader to adopt your perspective through strong argumentation.

Q8. How can I maintain a formal tone in my opinion essay?

Avoid overly casual language and slang. Use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and follow the conventions of academic writing, such as citing sources correctly.

Q9. Can I use personal anecdotes in my conclusion?

Yes, personal anecdotes can be effective in the conclusion to leave a lasting impression. Relate your personal experience back to your thesis or the broader implications of your opinion.

Q10. What is the most important aspect of revising my opinion essay?

The most crucial revision aspect is ensuring your essay is clear and well-organized. Check for logical flow between paragraphs, and edit for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.

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Step-by-Step Guide on How to Write an Opinion Essay + Examples

A personal opinion essay is an essential part of an educational process. Wherever you study, you will surely come across this kind of work. And if you’re stuck with finding ideas, you have come to the right place. In this article, you will learn all the intricacies of writing and get some good opinion essay topics.

Let’s start!

🤔 What Is an Opinion Essay?

🖊️ how to write an opinion essay.

• 🔗 Linkers and Transition Words

💡 Opinion Essay Ideas

👨‍🎓 opinion essay examples.

An opinion essay is a type of work that involves the expression of one’s own opinion, which has become the product of processing facts and arguments. However, this does not mean there should be no argumentation in the essay. It will be a big plus if you have a couple of examples from your own life or the lives of historical figures, illustrating some facts in your stock. Writing an opinion essay requires the author to clearly state his thoughts on any occasion, without excessive water and long reasoning.

Among other things, it should be remembered that, technically, an opinion essay is a formal type of work that many graduates write at the end of their studies. And this means it has its structure and specific writing rules that must be adhered to. To fully understand the meaning of this type of work, try reading a couple of our free essay samples .

🎯 The Purpose of an Opinion Essay

An opinion essay is an excellent tool for teaching students how to express their position correctly. And also to test the depth of their knowledge and thinking. An opinion essay can help you to boost your skills:

• Ability to convey your thoughts . Regardless of the topic of the essay, the teacher wants to see that his wards, leaving the educational institution, will be independent individuals. Therefore, the student needs to show the ability to convey their thoughts on any occasion.
• Competent writing skills . Even in the modern world, writing skills do not lose their relevance. This type of work allows you to form it as efficiently as possible. So if you want to impress your boss, remember to pay attention to grammar and punctuation.
• Topic knowledge . Unfortunately, there is no error-free way to test a student’s ability. However, opinion essays allow the teacher to examine everyone and ensure that the topic has been mastered. This is especially true for subjects such as history and literature.

And, of course, you should understand that the purpose of any text is to be read. So just be creative, and you will have a fantastic essay!

🗝️ Key Features of an Opinion Essay

Like any other type of writing, an opinion essay has characteristics that make it unique. And, of course, to compose a competent text, you need to know about them.

• Focus on the author’s clear and well-reasoned subjective opinion . All proofs, as well as the conclusion, are based on it.
• Logical-based structure . Moreover, it entirely depends on the intentions of the writer.
• Examples and arguments come primarily from personal experience . However, an author may use history and social life quotes and examples of literary heroes to prove their position.
• Speech instruments used . As an author, you will benefit significantly from using a variety of speech constructs . They can help you influence other people. Connecting constructs and clear speech will keep the reader interested and get the most out of the reader.

You just need to get used to all the features to get a little practice. You will succeed!

⚖️ Argumentative, Opinion or Persuasive Essay: the Difference

Before proceeding directly to writing the text, it is worth learning one more important thing. Even towards the end of high school, many people confuse opinion and persuasive essays. These papers look similar.

To help you distinguish the argumentative, opinion, and persuasive essays, we prepare a table of comparisons where you can easily indicate the difference between these papers:

Now let’s move on to which sections the essay consists of and how it should be written. You can safely use this information as a synopsis when completing the assignment.

So, the first one!

📃 Opinion Essay Format

As mentioned earlier, a specific opinion essay structure must be followed. Therefore, before you prepare writing, make up a small outline, which will contain all the components of the text and your ideas for their content. So, how to start an opinion essay?

Opinion Essay Introduction

Of course, any text starts with a short opening. This section should summarize the essence of the problem you are writing about. The main task of the introduction is to entice the audience and familiarize them with the paper’s main topic. Therefore, by the first paragraph, a person will build an impression of your talents.

Moreover, remember that the introduction should be catchy. How to write a hook for an opinion essay? In simple words, this is a proposal that should interest the reader and draw his attention. It should be subject-related and relatively accurate. All you have to do is show the reader that the topic of the essay will be critical and even touch it.

Let’s take a look at some opinion essay introduction examples from our authors, in which you can see all the listed components:

• As Ronald Reagan said in one of his speeches, everyone who advocates abortion has been born. The topic of abortion is very controversial, and people still cannot come to a standard solution. That is why, in this abortion opinion essay, I will try to sort out my thoughts and answer whether abortion is a panacea or a hidden evil.
• Global warming is a global problem. As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aptly put it, we cannot sit back while our planet is on fire. But can one person influence the fate of all humanity? I think so, and in this essay, I will try to explain my position

Of course, these examples are conditional, and you can change them as you need to achieve a quality result.

Opinion Essay: Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is the final sentence of an introduction . It is an integral part of the entire text. And if your essay will be evaluated, then the absence of the thesis will significantly underestimate the point. So how do you write the last sentence competently so that the reader will like it?

At its core, in the thesis, you should summarize everything that you indicated in the introduction and, in a nutshell, make it clear what will be discussed. You are expected to state your position on the issue clearly. And then, the entire text should be directed precisely to reinforce your words.

For example, take this essay topic: “ Is globalization a positive phenomenon? ” In this case, a good thesis would be “ In my opinion, globalization has many more advantages than disadvantages. ”

See how one small phrase can dramatically improve your overall performance score. Therefore, pay due attention to it!

Opinion Essay: Body Paragraphs

Finally, you come to the main body of your essay, namely the argumentation. The body paragraphs of an opinion essay are aimed at correctly explaining the author’s position to the audience. Here you are expected to have good arguments and examples that will become your assistants in proving your case.

Body paragraphs have two parts: an argument and an example supporting what you said. For example, you might say that the lack of responsibility for actions leads to the corruption of the mind and soul. And as an explanation to these words, briefly support your statement with the story of the protagonist of the novel by Jack London, “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

Moreover, no one limits the number of these same arguments, and often it depends on the maximum volume of the text itself. The standard case is two good arguments, supported by examples from life or literature. Then you can be sure that the reader will correctly understand your idea.

🔗 Linkers and Transitional Words for Opinion Essay

Connecting structures are an invisible companion for the reader throughout the entire essay. They are also called linkers or transitional words . At their core, these two concepts mean the exact phrases. Their task is to make the text more readable and smoothly translate the reader from one idea to another. Moreover, all these constructions are divided into subgroups depending on their purpose. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of good transition words for an opinion essay:

• In my opinion…
• It is clear that…, etc.
• It is widely known that…
• It is a well-known fact that…
• Research has shown that…
• There are definitely…
• It is a fact that…, etc.

There are also brilliant linkers for opinion essays on these themes:

• In spite of…
• However, etc.
• To conclude…
• In conclusion…, etc.

Using these constructions, you will significantly increase the consistency of your text and help the reader to perceive it better.

Now that you have a basic understanding of writing an essay, let’s look at some good opinion essay topics. Feel free to use them for your creative work and get good points.

💡 30 Opinion Essay Prompts

So, our team has selected 30 excellent opinion essay topics for you. Look for what resonates in your soul and get to work!

• Opinion essay: success in life depends on being successful at school. Many of us were assured that it is impossible to reach heights without a good performance at school. What do you think about it?
• Mobile phone addiction is the scourge of the 21st century. Give arguments from your life and tell about personal experiences.
• Opinion essay about GMO : pros and cons. For many, this topic remains a secret. It’s time to dispel all inaccuracies and find out the whole truth.
• Should university study be free? What is your position?
• Opinion essay about technologies in our life . What impact do they have?
• Compulsory vaccination : pros and cons. If you have any personal experience with this topic, feel free to share it.
• Opinion on abortion essay: do people have the right to choose?
• US neutrality in World War II : what would have gone differently?
• Opinion essay about video games. Is it an addiction or just leisure ? What do you think?
• Does the motivation from famous people have an effect, or is it a dummy? Do you have an opinion on this matter?
• Essay opinion on junk food : how dangerous it is. Everyone was warned that junk food and junk food kill the body, but maybe it’s all about the quantity?
• Parenting is the foundation of a child’s success. Do you think that the parents are responsible for the future education and work of their child?
• Opinion essay: buy nothing day or Black Friday sales. What do you choose and why?
• The advantages of living in a metropolis and a small town . Which would you choose?
• Essay: opinion about global warming . Do you think this is a real threat, or is it just a panic among people?
• Homemade food or dining out in restaurants? What do you and your family prefer?
• Social media impact opinion essay. Billions of people spend their time on social media. What consequences can this have for humanity?
• Consequences of increasing the budget for road construction. How will this affect our cities?
• Opinion essay: television promotes violence through broadcasting abusive behavior. Do you agree with this thesis?
• Humanity is destroying the ecosystem and making the earth uninhabitable. What arguments can be for and against?
• Opinion essay about homework : is this system outdated? How do you feel about this from a student’s point of view?
• Artists and internet bloggers make vast amounts of money. Do you support this?
• Opinion essay about racism in modern life. What are the dangers of this behavior? Tell us about your personal experience or give an example from the community’s life.
• Some people dream of changing their place of residence. Do you think that moving to another country will help you in self-realization?
• The best profession to choose opinion essay. What are your thoughts? Where would you like to be after finishing your studies?
• People prefer online communication over live communication. How do you feel about this trend?
• Opinion essay about same-sex marriages. For some people, this is unacceptable. What do you think about it?
• How can movies and television affect human behavior ? Do you think certain viewing films should be limited for people with a weak mentality?
• Opinion essay about immigration . Should the state provide maximum assistance to everyone who wants to get into it?
• Should people be allowed to carry weapons with them? What restrictions can be used, in your opinion?

These themes are ideal for getting good results.

Now let’s look at some small sample essays from our authors. You can see all the listed components and highlight some interesting ideas for yourself!

Climate change opinion essay, truth or fiction? (250 words)

Climate change has been heading the news for decades. Almost everyone is puzzled by this problem in the modern world, but is there any reason to believe that this is just exaggerated media panic? I think not, and in this essay, I will try to explain my position. The first thing worth paying attention to is the changes that we can see every day. But nature is changing, and this is noticeable with the naked eye. For example, you can look at how the temperature regime has changed over the past decades. In my region, real winter began in the last days of November. Then the temperature dropped to zero, and there was already snow outside the window. However, I would be thrilled to see snowfall this year, at least at Christmas. This raises questions about the veracity of statements from the media and various organizations. You should also look at the publicly available facts. International organizations conduct ongoing research, which clearly shows that the climate is changing, and it is difficult to fix it. One of the most respected teams, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), regularly issues climate change reports. And in them, you can see what reasons for this and what it can lead to. This is excellent and detailed work that deserves everyone’s attention. In summary, we can say that climate change can be seen with the naked eye. This problem affects all people on the planet, and to ignore it is to expose yourself to great danger. Humanity is destroying our world, and can we deny it?

Opinion on death penalty essay, is it moral? (300 words)

Many international treaties have long banned the death penalty, but this does not prevent several countries from regularly using it against criminals. I think this is a terrible practice that has no place in our civilized world. The argument for this may be the simple idea that every creature has a right to life. And this right cannot be taken away under any condition because you can take a dangerous path by creating an incident. One Russian scientist Andrei Sakharov spoke very accurately about this: “The existence of the institution of the death penalty dehumanizes society. I spoke out and am opposed to the death penalty also because this punishment provides for the presence of a constantly terrible apparatus of executors, the whole institution of the death penalty ”. I fully support his words because there is no reason not to kill the second after killing once. It should also be understood that people sentenced to death are not always, in fact, guilty. There is a miscarriage of justice, and no one can be insured against it. The most resonant was the story from 1949. Timothy Evans was hanged on charges of murdering his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter. Four years later, it wasn’t until serial killer John Christie, who had testified in court against Evans, confessed to the murder. He was hanged, and Timothy Evans was posthumously rehabilitated. The Timothy Evans case is one of the most remarkable stories in the death penalty dispute. To summarize, I can say that there are many reasons for the absolute ban on the death penalty in the world. This is not only inhuman but can lead to unnecessary deaths. Fighting crime in this way, the people who defend the law themselves break it.

Opinion essay on smoking: should the state intervene? (300 words)

Smoking is a global problem. Experts predict that in the coming decades, the number of smokers will reach one billion people worldwide. In my opinion, governments should take strict measures to limit nicotine use among the population. Firstly, smoking poses enormous hardships for addicts. All this can increase the number of cancer patients and people suffering from heart and lung diseases. At the same time, it can be tough to give up cigarettes on your own. We all understand that nicotine in quantities that a person receives from cigarettes is not characteristic of the body. Therefore, our body can react in an extraordinary way to its appearance. An example may well be my family, suffering from heart problems for several generations. All men, from my great-grandfather to my father, visit doctors all the time. And they all have one reason – excessive smoking. At the same time, they cannot quit smoking on their own due to a banal addiction. Secondly, smokers can damage the health of other people nearby. It is a well-known fact that secondhand smoke is no less harmful than the regular use of nicotine. And unfortunately, non-smokers, in most cases, have no choice. You can see it yourself in everyday life. People who are forced to breathe smoke while sitting at bus stops or in public places simply cannot do anything about it. The only way to help them is to introduce more and more restrictions from the state. So, in conclusion, we can say that smoking is not only a problem for the person addicted to cigarettes. Everyone suffers from this, from his family to strangers around him. Unfortunately, these difficulties cannot be resolved on their own. But is the state and society doing enough to help people with addiction?

❓ What Are the Characteristics of an Opinion?

The opinion is an entirely subjective position formed due to the influence of certain factors on the mind. It can be characterized as a personal judgment, point of view, and not an exact fact. However, an opinion can be valid only if it is supported by actual knowledge. Otherwise, it can be called more of a guess.

❓ How Many Paragraphs is an Opinion Essay?

The standard structure consists of four main parts: an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Nevertheless, if it is not specified in the assignment, it can deviate slightly from such a system. It is pretty standard practice to write three or more body paragraphs. Conversely, if one section fully covers the topic, then the need for other explanations may disappear.

❓ What Is the Structure of an Opinion Essay?

An essay structure is a precise sequence of your thoughts, which will help the reader to understand the topic better. The standard system consists of an introduction, two arguments, and a conclusion. In addition, there are less visible components like a hook, thesis statement, and linkers words. You can expand the structure by adding more argument parts. However, the sequence must remain the same.

❓ What Is a Supported Opinion Essay?

An essay based on a person’s personal opinion implies a clear statement of the author’s thoughts on a specific topic. However, to show understanding of the problem, one should rely on facts, research, or examples from life. A supported opinion essay is precisely when the author’s opinion is based on objective factors.

📎 References

• Basic Essay Structure. Port. Ac
• An opinion essay. British Council
• How to Write an Opinion Based Essay. UCT Language Centre
• Recognizing Transitions. MPC.Edu
• Writing Your Paper: Transitions. EWU.Edu
• Transition Sentences. The College of Saint Rose
• Writing Effective Conclusions. Richmond University
• Conclusion – How to write an essay. University of Newcastle
• Writing a thesis statement. IELTS Buddy
• CCSS Argument versus Opinion Writing
• Essay Structure. Harvard College Writing Centre
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How to Write an Opinion Essay: Examples, Structure, & Tips

An opinion essay is a formal piece of writing which presents the author’s point of view on a particular subject supported by reasoning and examples . The opposing viewpoint is also suggested, but it is followed by arguments that show its inconsistency. Take a look at the guide prepared by Custom-writing experts to learn how to write a perfect opinion essay!

• 🔤 Opinion Essay Basics
• 📑 Essay Structure

🖊️ Opinion Essay Format

• 💬 How to Start an Opinion Essay
• ✅ Dos and Don’ts

👌 Opinion Essay Examples

• 💡 Essay Tips

🏁 Concluding Remarks

🔗 references, 🔤 writing an opinion essay: basics.

You may be wondering: How do I write an opinion essay? How is it different from a persuasive, an argumentative, or a pros and cons essay ?

It’s simple: When you write an argumentative or persuasive essay , you should provide counterpoints and describe the essay topic from different perspectives. In an opinion paper, you don’t have to focus on the advantages and disadvantages in comparison. Instead, focus only on your opinion about the issue .

What Is an Opinion Essay?

An opinion essay, sometimes called “argumentative” or “persuasive,” presents the author’s perception of a subject and supporting arguments. It is written in a standard essay format. In such essays, authors usually try to persuade readers that their opinion is correct.

You may say: “I’m afraid to take a stand,” or “I don’t know what to say.” Relax. There’s nothing to worry about if your arguments are based on well-researched data. Speaking about opinion essay topics, some students find it difficult enough to choose the perfect one. But it’s not so hard: Think about something that engages you and that you feel strongly about.

Do you still have no clues about what to write? Check our 100 free ideas for an argumentative or persuasive essay and choose the topic that you have a strong opinion on. Then pick up a few reasons supporting your point of view and gather the facts that you’ll use as evidence.

📑 Opinion Essay Structure

The next step is to write an opinion essay outline . First of all, it will help you to overcome the fear of the blank page. Second, you’ll have a broken-down list of ideas and an organized place for your random thoughts. This will help you write an assignment faster.

Here’s an example of an opinion paper outline:

• An introduction . Write a thesis statement and the reasons that support your opinion. Give your readers a hook to engage them with the topic
• The main body . Break it into several paragraphs where you provide arguments and supporting examples, statements, and facts.
• A conclusion . When ending a paper, restate the main thesis and summarize the central points of the essay.

Develop an outline while you’re researching the topic and place the pieces of evidence where they make the most sense. You don’t have to write the whole assignment at a time. Just put stand-alone examples and facts in the places where they should go.

A well-prepared outline for an opinion essay is almost 70 percent of the work. All you’ll need to do is simply join your arguments by bridging the language.

Now that you’re familiar with the basic opinion essay structure, let’s see how exactly you should format each part of your paper.

Opinion Essay Introduction

Start your writing with a hook sentence that grabs the reader’s interest. You can use a surprising fact, a provocative question, or a relevant quote as a hook.

Have you ever stopped to consider the impact that social media has on our lives and society as a whole?

Then, provide background information and a thesis statement. It should present your opinion on the topic and the main arguments that support your point of view.

The rise of social media platforms has had detrimental effects on teenagers’ mental health due to increased feelings of loneliness, heightened levels of anxiety, and the negative impact on self-esteem.

Opinion Essay Body

In the body paragraphs, you need to explain your arguments and provide evidence to support them. Each paragraph should start with a topic sentence that introduces the point you are discussing.

The constant exposure to idealized and unrealistic images on social media platforms can contribute to insecurities and anxiety among teenagers, affecting their mental well-being.

Then, provide specific examples, facts, or statistics to support your reason. You may also include personal experiences or anecdotes to make your points more convincing.

According to The Mental Health Foundation’s survey in 2019, four in ten teenagers (40%) admitted that posts on social media had caused them to worry about body image. This statistic highlights the concerning impact of social media on teenagers’ mental well-being.

Opinion Essay Conclusion

The last paragraph of your opinion essay is the conclusion. Here, you restate your thesis and summarize the main points from the body paragraphs.

Social media platforms have negatively impacted teenagers’ mental well-being through the feelings of isolation, increased depression levels, and detrimental effects on the body image.

• Finally, you should end with a strong and memorable closing statement or a call to action. This will help you leave a lasting impression on the reader.

If all people work together raising awareness and advocating for change, we will eventually build a healthier online environment.

Opinion Essay Format

Correct formattion is another essential aspect of essay writing. Here are helpful guidelines you can use:

• Stick to a readable 12-point font, such as Times New Roman or Arial.
• Set 1-inch margins on all sides of the document.
• Double-space the entire essay, including the title and headings.
• Properly cite any sources used in your essay according to your required citation style (APA, MLA, Harvard, etc.)

If you are unsure about any specific formatting requirements for your opinion essay, we recommend consulting your school’s writing guidelines or asking your professor for clarification.

💬 How to Start an Opinion Essay – 30 Ideas

When it comes to opinion writing, a lot of students can’t explain their point of view. This shows a lack of critical thinking skills and leads to low grades. Even the perfect opinion essay format won’t save the situation in this case.

If you need a quick fix for your assignment, check our list of transition words and phrases to help you start putting your opinions:

• As far as I am concerned, …
• I am (not) convinced that …
• In my opinion/view …
• My opinion is that …
• I (firmly)believe that …
• I (definitely) feel/think that …
• I am inclined to believe that …
• Personally, I believe that…
• It is clear that…
• It seems to me that…
• In my mind…
• As I see it…
• My principal reason is…
• Another reason is…
• It is widely known that…
• It could be argued that…
• The well-known fact is…
• Research has shown that…
• For instance/for example…
• This suggests that…
• It would seem that…
• This proves that…
• This supports the …
• Even though / Although…
• In contrast…
• Despite the fact that…
• In spite of…
• In order to…
• In conclusion…

And don’t forget to use nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, or make your own phrases.

✅ Opinion Essay Rules

Writing an opinion essay may seem challenging, but if you keep the following dos and don’ts in mind, you will easily craft a compelling and well-structured essay. Check out the opinion essay rules we’ve collected for you below.

Opinion Essay Dos

• Use formal style. When writing an opinion essay, you should use a formal style, avoiding slang and colloquial language. It means using proper grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary suitable for an academic setting.
• Choose a side on the issue. You should take a clear stance on a particular topic in your essay. For instance, if the prompt is “Should school uniforms be mandatory?” you would need to choose whether you are for or against the idea and prove your position.
• Arrange your supporting points in emphatic order. Start with the weakest argument and end with the strongest. It will help to persuade the reader and leave a lasting impression.
• Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence . This way, your readers will understand the point you are trying to make from the very beginning.
• Provide support for your arguments. It is essential to back up your opinions with evidence, examples, and reasoning. You can include statistics, research findings, or expert opinions.
• Stay on topic. It is crucial to remain focused on the main issue or question throughout your paper. Be careful not to go off on a tangent or discuss irrelevant topics that do not directly support your argument.
• Use a diplomatic and professional tone. It means avoiding personal attacks, derogatory language, or overly emotional statements. Instead, present your ideas and respond to opposing viewpoints calmly and respectfully.

Opinion Essay Don’ts

• Don’t use informal language. Avoid using colloquial expressions, slang, jargon, or contractions. Instead, use formal language and non-abbreviated word forms.
• Don’t use emotive vocabulary. Emotive vocabulary includes words that provoke strong emotions or bias, such as “amazing,” “horrible,” or “disgusting.” In an opinion essay, it’s essential to use neutral language.
• Don’t overgeneralize. Avoid making broad statements that assume something is true for everyone or everything. Instead, be specific.
• Don’t use sources without proper referencing. When including information from other sources in your opinion essay, it’s crucial to provide appropriate citations and references. This way, you’ll show that you have done a thorough research and give credit to the original author.
• Don’t rely on personal examples. While personal anecdotes can sometimes strengthen an argument, it’s important not to rely solely on them. Instead, try to use different types of evidence, including statistics, expert opinions, and studies.
• Don’t address your readers. Directly addressing the reader by using “you” is considered informal and should be avoided in an opinion essay. Instead, it’s better to present the arguments and evidence without involving the reader directly.

Do you want to better understand what an opinion essay is? You are welcome to use our opinion essay examples! Reading them will help you gain an insight into this form of academic writing.

Opinion Essay Example #1

The USA is a multinational and multicultural country that is advanced in many areas, including healthcare, medicine, and science in general. However, some of the experiments, such as the syphilis studies discussed in this paper, show that the country is still in the process of overcoming intolerance, racial segregation, and social inequality. Talking about these studies aloud brings the question of research ethics to the forefront. In particular, people who participated in those scientific experiments were misled and misinformed about their health. The research group observed how the participants suffered from the disease’s symptoms until death (Brandt, 24). There are a number of diseases and conditions that have not been researched enough. The experience gained during the studies in Tuskegee and Guatemala should be used to eliminate the possibility of unethical conduct and ensure transparency in all the activities.

Opinion Essay Example #2

To confront cyberbullying effectively, it is vital to know how to identify what it is and spread this awareness among the children who may unwarily become participants. The tendency to raise this issue in the scientific and public spheres has positive dynamics. As there is legal protection for cyberbullying victims in the USA, it is vital to detect harassment cases. For this purpose, parents and teachers should cooperate to create trustworthy relationships so the child can ask for help from adults. That is why a high level of emotional support from parents and peers is necessary to combat bullying before it has occurred.

Opinion Essay Topics

• Your personal view on money and expenditures.
• Analyze your attitude towards obesity as a public health problem.
• Give your opinion on the importance of container deposit legislation.
• What do you think of different belief systems? 
• Discuss your point of view on The Scream by Edvard Munch.
• Describe your opinion on the climate change issue.
• What do you think of the media’s influence on people’s views ?
• Your opinion on the film Argo directed by Affleck .
• Express your opinion on diets and weight loss programs.
• Analyze the impact of war on society and present your opinion.
• Present your opinion on the question of gay marriage.  
• Describe your attitude towards gender stereotypes.
• Do you support the Biblical point of view on divorce?  
• Explain what you think about racism in employment.
• Discuss your attitude to photography. 
• Describe what love is, in your opinion.  
• Give your opinion on genetic engineering.
• Analyze the necessity of vaccination for public school students and present your opinion.
• Express your views on the death penalty.
• Discuss your views on aging changes .
• Do you like the music of a Classical Era?
• Is it ethical to use animals in research, in your opinion?
• Do you think the government should increase the minimum wage?
• Explain whether you agree that soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world.
• Do you think the Internet plays an important role in your life?
• Describe your point of view on the controversial topic of human cloning .
• Present your opinion on tattoos as a form of art.  
• What does the ideal social meeting place look like?
• How do you think bullies should be punished?
• Do you support the opinion that celebrities should be positive role models ?
• Is remote work more convenient than working in an office?  
• Describe your attitude towards social networks .
• What is justice, in your opinion?  
• Give your opinion on American football.  
• What do you think about classical music? 
• Is the government monitoring its citizens justified by safety concerns?  
• Explain what you think about steroid use in competitive sports.
• Discuss the necessity to ban violent computer games .
• Your personal opinion on using cell phones while driving.  
• Do you think the government should interfere with the contents of TV shows ?
• Express your opinion on net neutrality.  
• Describe your views on online dating.  
• Is protectionism necessary for saving a country’s economy? 
• What do you think of a vegan lifestyle?
• Present your attitude towards physician-assisted suicide.
• Do you support the opinion that college athletes should be paid ?
• Your point of view on cigarette smoking and suggestion to ban it.
• Explain whether you think that public colleges and universities should be tuition-free.
• How do you understand responsibility?
• Express your opinion on canceling grades at schools .

💡 Opinion Essay Tips for an A+ Paper

Want to make your essay truly outstanding? Follow the pro tips below:

• Read the question carefully. Take time to fully understand what you are asked to write about. It will help you stay on topic and ensure your essay addresses it effectively.
• Plan your ideas before you start writing. Before beginning the writing process, take time to brainstorm and outline your ideas. Then, evaluate and select the strongest arguments or points to include in your essay.
• Show an understanding of both sides of the argument. Acknowledging different perspectives demonstrates a well-rounded view and can strengthen your position by addressing counterarguments.
• Make use of linking words and phrases. Transitions such as “however,” “in addition,” and “on the other hand” help create a smooth flow between paragraphs and make your essay easier to read. Our transition words generator can assist you with it.
• Don’t introduce any new ideas in the conclusion. In the last paragraph, summarize your main points and restate your thesis without bringing up new information that wasn’t discussed in the body of your essay.

Thank you for reading! Our free tips will help you get through any kind of essay. Still, if you’re stuck with your essay, you can always count on professional writers’ tips and recommendations!

With the help of the tips above, you’ll be able to create the most unbelievable papers in a blink of an eye. Now that you know the secrets of professional writers, try writing your opinion essay!

The final piece of advice : Don’t forget to proofread your paper. Revise your content, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, etc. Make sure that your essay answers the main question. Check if the evidence you provided is accurate and up-to-date.

• Essay Structure | – Harvard College Writing Center
• An opinion essay | Writing – Advanced C1 | British Council
• 5 Tips for Writing an Opinion Essay – ThoughtCo
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I hope this is gonna help me with my opinion essay

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How to Write an Opinion Essay

By: Max Malak

“What is an opinion essay” followed by “How to write an opinion paper”, are the two most common questions among college students.

What is an Opinion Essay

•  🤔 Pre-writing 
•  🤯 Brainstorming 
•  👉 Topic Selection 
• Opinion Paper Outline
•  Introduction 
•  Thesis statement 
•  Body Paragraph 1 
•  Body Paragraph 2 
•  Body Paragraph 3 
•  Conclusion 
• How to Start an Opinion Essay: Tips for writing an opinion paper

Requirements

• Examples of Opinion Writing 

What is an opinion paper?

How to start off an opinion essay, what is the structure of an opinion essay, what are the 3 parts of opinion writing, how do you write an opinion essay for kids, what is opinion writing for students, what must be included in opinion writing, how do you write an opinion essay without using i, what is a statement of opinion, can you say “i” in an opinion essay.

How to write a good opinion essay is all about creating a point of view. Relevant explanations and examples support this point of view. Before you begin a paper, you need to first study the topics, structure and requirements.

With that in mind, read this guide to learn how to write an opinion essay step by step.

An opinion essay is an academic writing assignment that contains questions students can use to share their opinions concerning a subject matter. This form of assignment tends to require various references to back up your claims. To simplify the definition, it consists of your view segregated into a point. The paper tends to address the readers directly. Such an introduction begins by referencing a book, play, or speech. It is then followed by a rhetorical question such as "is the American president American?" or something along those lines.

Opinion Essays Structure

Most students tend to struggle with an opinion essay structure. An opinion paper format comes in your standard 5 paragraph structure . It can be difficult for beginners to figure out what to write in each section. Nevertheless, this is why every beginner must follow an essay outline when writing.

To help you with an essay format, here is a template:

Opinion writing structure

Before you begin the text structure highlighted above, there are a few steps between starting and finishing a paper.

🤔 Pre-writing

This step requires you to consider the following:

• The questions you intend to tackle in your assignment
• The main points that your readers must be aware of
• The central argument or idea that makes your paper an academic writing success.
• The research it took to create this opinion, coupled with evidence. It should also include any contradictions if any.

🤯 Brainstorming

As its name states, this process requires you to develop your organic ideas, developing them into meaningful topics. When you write your ideas, you should not be afraid of writing ideas that don’t seem to make sense.

If you already have a topic for your essay, you can start jotting down content supporting your argument with evidence.

👉 Topic Selection

If you haven’t been given a topic, you will need to take several brainstormed ideas and transform them into a powerful topic . Discover if you agree or disagree with the topic in question.

Deciding if you agree or disagree with the topic right at the beginning ensures that you do not diverge from your initial statement.

Paper Outline

The last thing you want to do is to skip this section, as it can make or break your academic writing. When creating your outline, it can be a rough opinion essay template with particular headings that enable you to create the bones of your assignment.

Now let’s discuss the parts of an essay and how to write an introduction.

How to Format?

• Introduction

The opinion essay introduction section requires you to directly address the audience by stating the subject matter. You will need to reference a play, book, poem, or speech to do this. You should also reference the name of the author and, of course, the date of the publication you are referencing in brackets.

Thesis statement

The thesis statement is the full form of your point of view. It follows the introduction for opinion essay. It is in this section that you are allowed to be opinionative. This section contains the following:

• 1 to 2 sentences that make up a small description
• 2 sentences that summarise the entire paper.
• 1 sentence that links to the first body paragraph of your essays
• Body Paragraph 1

This is the main section where you state your argument or reason for or against the topic. The great thing about this section is that you can have as many arguments as possible. In this section, you will discover how to write a body paragraph for an opinion essay.

The body paragraph will contain the following:

• Your supporting argument
• An example of your supporting argument
• An explanation of your argument using your own words
• It should also contain a sentence that links to your second body paragraph
• Body Paragraph 2

This body paragraph will contain the following:

• It should also contain a sentence that links to your third body paragraph
• Body Paragraph 3
• An explanation of your argument in your own vocabulary
• It should also contain a sentence that links to the conclusion of the subject

The conclusion of your academic writing provides an entire summary of your paper. It should also include a conclusive sentence that answers the question in a broad or general view. Ensure that you reinforce your major points by briefly repeating them in this section.

In other words, you need to rewrite the thesis statement in your own words whilst including your stance. The conclusion is an underrated section of a paper, as it can be used to further underline your ideas to the reader. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t make this paragraph longer than it needs to be.

The best bet is to have a conclusion paragraph that is brief and straight to the point. This format ensures that your readers have something useful to take from the end of the article.

How to Start an Essay: Tips for writing an opinion paper

Now that you understand how to structure an essay outline, it is time to discuss how to state your opinion in an essay.

Your essay should begin with the most compelling and convincing explanation of why you are right, and then work down to less important issues.

• Why do I believe what I believe?
• Why do I think the way I think?
• Why do I feel the way I feel?

If you can answer these questions for yourself, then you have already begun writing an essay.

The first sentence of your essay should state the topic. However, this sentence should not be too general. Instead of being vague, your goal should be to be specific about what you're talking about when you say "topic." This will help convince the reader that you're not just spouting off, but that you're offering a specific perspective on the subject.

This type of essay seeks to explain something from the writer's subjective point of view, to prove an idea, or to persuade someone of anything. From the author's point of view, it reveals and describes the causes and interconnections of any phenomenon.

There are integral dos and don’ts for what to write about.

When writing, you should always use a formal style .

You should also clearly introduce your topic by avoiding any unnecessary facts and phrases that don’t correlate to the topic.

Also it is imperative that you correctly cite your sources .

Credible sources for your essay can include the following:

• Academic databases
• Google Scholar articles
• Governmental and educational institutions
• Texts authored by respected individuals
• Information created within the last 10 years

Furthermore, there are also a few things you shouldn’t do when writing an essay . For one, you should refrain from using over-generalizations, ensuring your sentences are very precise. You should also only use statistics with proper referencing. As an academic writing format, you should steer clear of personal examples. Doing so takes away from the formal mood and writing style.

• Always stay formal. Treat your essay as if it is one of your final papers;
• Keep the introduction of your topic free from unnecessary facts;
• Use each paragraph for a separate opinion piece;
• Always use the last line of the paragraph as a bridge or link to the next one to ensure coherence;
• Use generalizations;
• Try to use present tense;
• Always cite the material that you have used;
• Try to stay brief. Do not wander or get carried away with your opinions;
• Stay logical. Make sure that your essay is in the logical sequence. Arguments that go back and forth will confuse the reader;
• Never skip proofreading;
• Always check plagiarism before you submit your work.
• Do not use slang or jargons;
• Avoid using short forms;
• Stay away from over-generalizations;
• Do not use a material that you haven't cited;
• Avoid using personal examples in the essay. Your view must be based on the topic;
• Do not repeat arguments as it will eat up the word count and add no value;
• Do not overuse sentences that are straightforward or short;
• Steer clear of using an imperative voice;
• Do not use dashes, parentheses, or exclamation marks;
• Refrain yourself from using "you" in the content;
• Stay away from the expressive vocabulary.

When citing sources, you should refrain from using the following:

• Citation articles
• Commercial websites
• Outdated information

If you look back on the outline section, you will discover that you can have as many arguments as necessary for that subject. This, however, doesn’t mean that you should continually repeat arguments. This type of essay requires you to create various subheadings under your main argument.

One last thing to remember is that you should refer to your reader as "you” under no circumstance ! Speaking directly to the reader can be seen as disrespectful, especially if you fall into using an informal tone.

Examples of Opinion Writing

Below are one of the examples of an opinion essay:

Can video games be a great way to remain fit?

In today’s world, numerous teenagers spend most of their time at home on video game consoles, and they often play active video games. These games are great for several reasons,

First of all , I believe that active video games can be a great way to remain fit. Various forms of exercises are available in these games, such as dance, water-skiing, and basketball. What's even more important is that these games can be played directly in a home, without the need to venture outside.

In my opinion , these games can be extremely interactive and fun since they can be played with friends, even if the participants are located in different areas, thanks to the internet.

Additionally, you can play these games whenever; some people believe that it is better to engage in exercise outside. And while this is true, it can be much more difficult to play outside in various weather conditions. This reason makes video games a great alternative.

To sum it up , I believe that video games can be a social and fun way to remain fit. They make a great alternative, in my opinion, for days when the weather outside is not conducive to playing outside. Video games can even encourage more people to exercise.

There you go, above are some opinion essay introduction examples.

Opinion writing can be termed as expository writing . The reason for this is because this type of paper format utilizes a style of writing that is defined by the capacity to justify your point of view using resources, facts, and reasons.

The statements or topic sentences are typically supported by elaboration found in the center of the essay. You also provide reasons for your stance on the particular subject. The subject could be social issues, politics, or current events.

The purpose of this form of writing isn't only to inform; it is also to underscore that information using specific examples that convince the reader to support a particular point of view.

Writing this English assignment will require using language such as "as far as I am concerned" and "I think”. Using the phrases mentioned above in the essay sample shows that you, as the author, want to provide an opinionated viewpoint.

Opinion writing can be a wonderful way to create and push out your viewpoint to those who will read it. Additionally, it is an opportunity for you to let others understand how you feel about certain issues and the reason for those feelings. The opinion essay writing model is something that is practiced and developed.

An opinion paper enables writers to put down their thoughts and opinions on a subject matter with carefully crafted sources and examples supporting their viewpoint.

Writing an opinion essay begins with the introduction of the topic in its entirety. In this instance, you also introduce your viewpoint and your argument for or against the topic in question.

The structure of an opinion essay goes as follows:

• Pre-writing
• Brainstorming
• Topic Selection

Once you have done the former, you can then begin creating your essay using the structure below:

There are three parts to every opinion essay. These include 1) introduction, 2) body and 3) conclusion.

The essay begins with an introduction. It introduces the essay's topic. The body of your essay should explain, describe, argue, or summarize your introduction's points. The conclusion should restate your thesis and answer the questions generated by your essay.

Having formed a point of view indicates that you have made up your mind about what you believe. In order to write an paper about your favorite book, for example, you must first decide on your favorite book and then ensure that you have a variety of reasons why it is your favorite.

Opinion writing is intended to express a personal point of view. The writer sets out to elaborate on an idea and to convince the reader that they agree with that idea.

The opinion piece should begin with a strong, clear statement of opinion, and that opinion should be held unwaveringly and constantly reinforced throughout the text. Using a hook to capture the reader's interest, as with many other writing genres, is also an important practice.

Simply remove the first-person element of your statement to do this. In formal writings, "one," "the reader," "readers," "the viewer," or something similar can sometimes be used effectively in place of first-person pronouns but be careful not to overuse these expressions.

A statement of opinion is a written statement about a topic. The statement may be a personal opinion, an evaluation, an interpretation, or a policy proposal. The purpose of the statement of essays is to convince the reader that the writer understands a topic well enough to write about it.

Yes, you can say “I” in this type of essay. This is because, unlike other forms of writing, writing an opinion paper can be termed a personal opinion essay. It requires you to write your point of view on a particular topic.

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Thanks for the info had to edit my first draft after reading it🥴

It was my first time writing it a few days back and your article was really useful for me, thanks!

My major problem is learning how to make a perfect case for my opinions. I love reading, but writing is so not my forte. Getting to know about this writing service was the highlight of my week. I am grateful for the swift and straightforward work that was done.

The opinion essay examples were really helpful, and they made me learn and be aware of what to look out for in a good essay. I ordered only two pages of work from the platform, and it was well written.

We were supposed to make an argumentative opinion based essay about an anecdote. It required a lot of knowledge about the base subject and a whole lot of research. I needed to focus on other courses, and that is why I outsourced it. The writer I was assigned was very helpful, and the final product was very engaging.

The writers did a great job with correct attention to detail and grammar. I think the reasoning was spot on, and I was really impressed with the opinion essay conclusion. I was basically the reader that my essay was written for. Thank you so much.

The basic don'ts were things I didn't know about before. I also had no idea of how much research needed to be done to support your opinion. Then, when I tried to write in active voice, I kind of gave up and decided to get help. That has to be the best decision I made😂.

According to the teacher who gave it, the main aim of our opinion essay outline was to capture the reader's attention. I think my writer understood the assignment. The use of formal language was also flawless. I'm really glad I came here to get my work done.

I loved my essay, from the professional writers to the use of smooth transition words for the body paragraphs. The paper carried a strong opinion, and it was expressed very well.

I was almost ecstatic that the writer who handled my opinion essay understood the main idea of the title. I had a well-executed work without draining my bank account in the process. Thank you!

This kind of paper is all about your own thoughts. I have done it at school and it is my favorite. Essay outline really helped me to organize my ideas. There is also a final copy of paper, so if you talk during class, you have to write 4 paragraphs and parents have to sign it.

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105 Best Words To Start A Paragraph

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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The first words of a paragraph are crucial as they set the tone and inform the reader about the content that follows.

Known as the ‘topic’ sentence, the first sentence of the paragraph should clearly convey the paragraph’s main idea. 

This article presents a comprehensive list of the best words to start a paragraph, be it the first, second, third, or concluding paragraph.

Words to Start an Introduction Paragraph

The words you choose for starting an essay should establish the context, importance, or conflict of your topic.

The purpose of an introduction is to provide the reader with a clear understanding of the topic, its significance, and the structure of the ensuing discussion or argument.

Students often struggle to think of ways to start introductions because they may feel overwhelmed by the need to effectively summarize and contextualize their topic, capture the reader’s interest, and provide a roadmap for the rest of the paper, all while trying to create a strong first impression.

Choose one of these example words to start an introduction to get yourself started:

• The debate surrounding [topic]…
• [Topic] has garnered attention due to…
• Exploring the complexities of [topic]…
• The significance of [topic] lies in…
• Over the past decade, [topic] has…
• The critical question of [topic]…
• As society grapples with [topic]…
• The rapidly evolving landscape of [topic]…
• A closer examination of [topic] reveals…
• The ongoing conversation around [topic]…

Don’t Miss my Article: 33 Words to Avoid in an Essay

Words to Start a Body Paragraph

The purpose of a body paragraph in an essay is to develop and support the main argument, presenting evidence, examples, and analysis that contribute to the overall thesis.

Students may struggle to think of ways to start body paragraphs because they need to find appropriate transition words or phrases that seamlessly connect the paragraphs, while also introducing a new idea or evidence that builds on the previous points.

This can be challenging, as students must carefully balance the need for continuity and logical flow with the introduction of fresh perspectives.

Try some of these paragraph starters if you’re stuck:

• Building upon previous research…
• As [source] suggests, [topic]…
• Analyzing [topic] through [theory]…
• Considering the impact of [policy]…
• Delving deeper into [topic]…
• Drawing from [author]’s findings…
• [Topic] intersects with [related topic]…
• Contrary to popular belief, [topic]…
• The historical context of [topic]…
• Addressing the challenges of [topic]…

Words to Start a Conclusion Paragraph

The conclusion paragraph wraps up your essay and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

It should convincingly summarize your thesis and main points. For more tips on writing a compelling conclusion, consider the following examples of ways to say “in conclusion”:

• In summary, [topic] demonstrates…
• The evidence overwhelmingly suggests…
• Taking all factors into account…
• In light of the analysis, [topic]…
• Ultimately, [topic] plays a crucial role…
• In light of these findings…
• Weighing the pros and cons of [topic]…
• By synthesizing the key points…
• The interplay of factors in [topic]…
• [Topic] leaves us with important implications…

Complete List of Transition Words

Above, I’ve provided 30 different examples of phrases you can copy and paste to get started on your paragraphs.

Let’s finish strong with a comprehensive list of transition words you can mix and match to start any paragraph you want:

• Secondly, …
• In addition, …
• Furthermore, …
• Moreover, …
• On the other hand, …
• In contrast, …
• Conversely, …
• Despite this, …
• Nevertheless, …
• Although, …
• As a result, …
• Consequently, …
• Therefore, …
• Additionally, …
• Simultaneously, …
• Meanwhile, …
• In comparison, …
• Comparatively, …
• As previously mentioned, …
• For instance, …
• For example, …
• Specifically, …
• In particular, …
• Significantly, …
• Interestingly, …
• Surprisingly, …
• Importantly, …
• According to [source], …
• As [source] states, …
• As [source] suggests, …
• In the context of, …
• In light of, …
• Taking into consideration, …
• Given that, …
• Considering the fact that, …
• Bearing in mind, …
• To illustrate, …
• To demonstrate, …
• To clarify, …
• To put it simply, …
• In other words, …
• To reiterate, …
• As a matter of fact, …
• Undoubtedly, …
• Unquestionably, …
• Without a doubt, …
• It is worth noting that, …
• One could argue that, …
• It is essential to highlight, …
• It is important to emphasize, …
• It is crucial to mention, …
• When examining, …
• In terms of, …
• With regards to, …
• In relation to, …
• As a consequence, …
• As an illustration, …
• As evidence, …
• Based on [source], …
• Building upon, …
• By the same token, …
• In the same vein, …
• In support of this, …
• In line with, …
• To further support, …
• To substantiate, …
• To provide context, …
• To put this into perspective, …

Tip: Use Right-Branching Sentences to Start your Paragraphs

Sentences should have the key information front-loaded. This makes them easier to read. So, start your sentence with the key information!

To understand this, you need to understand two contrasting types of sentences:

• Left-branching sentences , also known as front-loaded sentences, begin with the main subject and verb, followed by modifiers, additional information, or clauses.
• Right-branching sentences , or back-loaded sentences, start with modifiers, introductory phrases, or clauses, leading to the main subject and verb later in the sentence.

In academic writing, left-branching or front-loaded sentences are generally considered easier to read and more authoritative.

This is because they present the core information—the subject and the verb—at the beginning, making it easier for readers to understand the main point of the sentence.

Front-loading also creates a clear and straightforward sentence structure, which is preferred in academic writing for its clarity and conciseness.

Right-branching or back-loaded sentences, with their more complex and sometimes convoluted structure, can be more challenging for readers to follow and may lead to confusion or misinterpretation.

Take these examples where I’ve highlighted the subject of the sentence in bold. Note that in the right-branching sentences, the topic is front-loaded.

• Right Branching: Researchers found a strong correlation between sleep and cognitive function after analyzing the data from various studies.
• Left-Branching: After analyzing the data from various studies, a strong correlation between sleep and cognitive function was found by researchers.
• The novel was filled with vivid imagery and thought-provoking themes , which captivated the audience from the very first chapter.
• Captivating the audience from the very first chapter, the novel was filled with vivid imagery and thought-provoking themes.

The words you choose to start a paragraph are crucial for setting the tone, establishing context, and ensuring a smooth flow throughout your essay.

By carefully selecting the best words for each type of paragraph, you can create a coherent, engaging, and persuasive piece of writing.

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 60 Would you Rather Questions for Students (Of all Ages)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 25 Classroom Games Ideas for High School
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 25 Classroom Games Ideas for Middle School
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 25 Classroom Games Ideas (For Elementary School)

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Effective Transition Words for Structured, Flowing Essays

Have you ever encountered an essay that flowed seamlessly, through a clear and logical path? That smooth flow is often achieved through the skillful use of connectors. Transition words , also identified as connectors, are the unrecognized heroes of succinct, cohesive writing, effortlessly leading attentive readers from one part to another. The correct usage of connectors also reflects the quality of your composition. In this instructional guide, let’s look at the importance of linking words, examine various types, discuss their appropriate usage in content, and provide examples to enhance your composing skills.

What Are Transitions and Why Do We Need Them?

Transitions , also called connectors , are crucial for linking paragraphs, statements, and ideas in written works. They enable the readers to track the sequential flow of an argument by illustrating connections between main viewpoints. Employing transition words for essays ensures consistency and precision, and makes your composition more understandable.

Without these expressions, essays can appear incoherent and choppy, making it difficult for readers to grasp the key aspects. Utilizing strong transition words to start a paragraph or connectors for concluding papers aids in leading the audience through the text seamlessly, ensuring each main point builds logically on the previous one.

Types of Transitions

Linking sentences and sections elevates the level and quality of their writing. For instance, using connectors can help you achieve higher scores in IELTS, and TOEFL, as well as in your assignments and research work. There are several types of connectors, each serving a different purpose:  

1.  Additive Transitions : These expressions contribute additional ideas or data. Examples of this type are " moreover ," " additionally ," and " furthermore ." 

2.  Adversative Transitions : Such linking words indicate contrast or opposition. Examples comprise " nevertheless ," " in contrast ," and " however ."

3.  Causal Transitions : These expressions signify cause-effect connections. In such sentences, use " therefore ," " thus ," and " consequently ."

4.  Sequential Transitions : These connectors show the sequence of actions or ideas. Here, employ " first ," " then ," "later,” " next ," and " finally " to indicate order.

5.  Clarifying Transitions : These expressions are employed to illustrate and clarify the details. In this case, utilize "in other words," "for instance," or "for example."

Ø  Use academic linking words efficiently and correctly to enhance the quality, logical flow, and understandability of your assignments.

If you encounter challenges in linking paragraphs, the Aithor AI tool can provide valuable support. The writing assistant can assist in suggesting and selecting the correct transitions to refine each of your assignments.

The Transitions List to Start a Body Paragraph: Purpose & Examples

Connecting the first body section to the central idea with a powerful linking word establishes the tone for the initial point. Check out some commonly used samples of transition words to start a paragraph in an essay :

• Firstly : This expression introduces the primary viewpoint and can be replaced by "first".

To exemplify, "Firstly, it is vital to grasp the historical background of the matter."

• To begin with : It indicates the commencement of a discourse.

To illustrate, "To begin with, let's investigate the environmental factors."

• Primarily : It underscores the key focus or primary supporting detail.

 For instance, "Primarily, this research aims to explore the cultural impact."

• In the first place : It’s similar to "firstly, " but slightly more formal.

To exemplify, "In the first place, we must consider the financial consequences.

• Initially : It presents the initial stage of an argument.

For instance, "Initially, the project seemed promising."

These connectors clearly mark the commencement of the opening idea, ensuring clarity and consistent flow from the introductory part to the main body sections. Use such expressions to state your first viewpoint.

The List of Transition Words for the Second Paragraph

Transitions signal either continuation or contrast in the second main section. See some widely used samples of transition words for the second body paragraph :

• Secondly : This word indicates the presentation of the second detail or perspective.

To illustrate, "Secondly, we must analyze the political influences."

• In the second place : Like 'secondly,' this connector introduces the second idea, but in a more formal manner.

To exemplify, "In the second place, the data must be thoroughly examined."

• Moreover : This expression adds additional information.

For example, "Moreover, the outcomes suggest a significant trend."

• Furthermore : This connector adds further information or a new argument.

By way of example, "Furthermore, the findings support the initial hypothesis."

• Additionally : This linking word adds extra details or points.

For instance, "Additionally, recent investigations have corroborated these outcomes."

The connecting words mentioned ensure that the audience easily grasps the progression of concepts and perceives the text’s flow. Use these expressions to effectively link the main viewpoints.

Transition Words for the Third Paragraph

The third section of the body often necessitates connectors that present a final idea or summarize important points mentioned earlier. See the list with sample sentences for some paragraph transition words for this intent:

• Thirdly : This connector introduces the third idea.

To exemplify, "Thirdly, we need to examine the cultural impact."

• In the third place : This connector suggests a slightly more formal way to present the third point.

By way of example, "In the third place, there are ethical considerations to address."

• Finally : The word indicates the final detail or argument.

To illustrate, "Finally, the research reveals important societal impacts."

• Lastly : Similar to "finally," but more informal.

For instance, "Lastly, we should not overlook the educational aspects."

• To conclude : The connector summarizes the body section.

To exemplify , "To conclude, these key factors collectively influence the outcome."

These connectors signal the close of the body’s final part and prepare the audience for the closing remarks .

The List of Connectors for Conclusion

In the concluding paragraph, linking words help to recap the main arguments and restate the thesis coherently. Check out the typical transition words for the conclusion :

• To summarize : The connector summarizes the paper’s main points.

By way of example , "To summarize, the survey highlights key trends in the data."

• In conclusion : This connector signals the beginning of the closing part.

To exemplify, "In conclusion, the mentioned evidence strongly corroborates the hypothesis."

• Ultimately : This word indicates the final deduction.

For instance, "Ultimately, the findings suggest a new direction for upcoming research."

• Therefore : The connector indicates a logical inference.

For example, "Therefore, it is obvious that policy changes are necessary."

• Thus : This one indicates the outcome of the argued points.

For instance, "Thus, the study demonstrates the need for further investigation."

These finalizing connectors ensure the conclusion successfully wraps up the assignment, leaving the audience with a clear comprehension of the key points. Use these expressions to effectively end the task, leaving a final comment and providing food for thought after employing these transitions.

Wrapping Up

Transitions are indispensable tools in research papers and composition writing. The connectors guide the audience through the orderly flow of thoughts, ensuring readability and clarity. From the presentation of a body part to the closing summary, the efficient use of transition words for.

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How to Write an Opinion Essay

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An opinion essay stands as a potent tool for expressing personal viewpoints, beliefs, and perspectives on various subjects. Unlike other forms of essays , that heavily rely on facts and evidence, an opinion essay invites writers to showcase their unique thoughts and emotions on a given topic. In this comprehensive guide, you will learn how to write an opinion essay. We will offer invaluable insights and practical tips to help you navigate this expressive form of writing.

What is an Opinion Essay?

An opinion essay is a literary form that allows writers to articulate their personal stance on a particular issue. An opinion essay encourages the author to convey their beliefs and support them with reasoning and evidence. The core objective is to persuade readers to adopt the author's perspective or, at the very least, to consider it thoughtfully.

How to Write an Opinion Essay in 5 Steps

1. Develop a Clear Thesis Statement Crafting a robust thesis statement is paramount to the success of your opinion essay. This should encapsulate your main argument and provide a roadmap for your readers. Decide whether or not you agree with your given question and put together a list of two or three compelling reasons bolstering your stance.

As you contemplate your position, delve deeper into each reason. Think about data, statistics, or anecdotes that you could use not only to substantiate your viewpoint but also to lend credibility to your argument.

2. Plan Your Structure Organise your thoughts and arguments logically by structuring your essay appropriately. Start with an engaging introduction that introduces the topic and presents your thesis statement. Follow this with well-organised body paragraphs, each dedicated to a specific point supporting your thesis. Finally, conclude your essay with a succinct summary of your main arguments and a powerful restatement of your thesis.

3. Provide Strong Supporting Evidence While an opinion essay is inherently subjective, it is essential to bolster your arguments with relevant evidence. This may include real-life examples, statistics, expert opinions, or historical references. The more compelling your evidence, the more persuasive your essay becomes.

4. Address Counterarguments Anticipate and address potential counterarguments to strengthen your position. Acknowledging opposing viewpoints demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the topic and adds credibility to your essay. Refute counterarguments with well-reasoned responses, reinforcing the robustness of your perspective.

5. Craft a Compelling Conclusion End your essay with a strong conclusion that summarises your key points and reiterates your thesis. Leave a lasting impression on your readers by offering a thought-provoking insight, a call to action, or a compelling final thought that reinforces the significance of your viewpoint.

Opinion Essay Writing Tips

1. Clarity is Key Ensure your writing is clear and concise. Use straightforward language and avoid unnecessary jargon. A well-articulated opinion essay is easily understood and resonates with a broader audience.

2. Stay Focused Maintain a clear focus on your chosen topic. Avoid veering off into unrelated tangents, as this can dilute the impact of your arguments. A focused essay is more persuasive and engaging.

3. Embrace Your Voice An opinion essay is your chance to showcase your unique voice and perspective. Don't shy away from injecting personality into your writing. A strong, authentic voice resonates with readers and makes your essay memorable.

4. Revise and Edit Take the time to revise and edit your essay meticulously . Check for grammatical errors, clarity, and coherence. A polished essay demonstrates your commitment to delivering a high-quality piece of writing.

The Importance of Persuasive Writing

Mastering the art of opinion essay writing is a skill that opens doors to effective communication and persuasion. By choosing compelling topics, crafting a clear thesis, providing strong evidence, and addressing counterarguments, you can create an essay that not only expresses your opinions but also captivates and convinces your audience. Remember, the key lies in embracing your unique voice, staying focused, and refining your writing through careful revision.

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How to Write an Academic Paragraph (Step-by-Step Guide)

Unlike creative writing or day-to-day writing, academic writing is highly focused on critical analysis, is typically based on research, and adheres to strict academic conventions. In academic writing, every paragraph seeks to serve the purpose of discussing and sharing information on scientific or scholarly topics with a focused academic community. That is why it is important that each sentence within a paragraph should be relevant and flow in a logically correct and engaging narrative.    

There are different elements that constitute an academic paragraph. Each of these elements works together to present concepts, ideas, and innovative new developments in a coherent manner. Let’s take a look at how to craft an impactful academic paragraph.   

How to write an academic paragraph?  

Any academic writing is centered on a well-formulated main idea or argument. This main idea needs to be developed further, or a research question needs to be answered in a systematic and logical manner. Such a process entails identifying and building points along with relevant supporting evidence to support the main idea.   

In academic writing, the discussion of each of these points is done in separate paragraphs. To aid this process, an outline of your academic assignment can be prepared that helps organize your thoughts and ideas and list the various points or topic sentences to build your argument. A well-articulated and strong paragraph can be developed by ensuring that it contains certain key elements, as discussed below.   

Topic sentence

Each paragraph can have a topic sentence at or near its start. The topic sentence is basically the main point that you will be focusing on in the paragraph. The scope of the topic sentence should be such that it can be discussed and developed in a single paragraph. In reading the topic sentence, the reader should get an idea of the focus of the paragraph.    

Significance

The significance of the point that is being discussed in the paragraph should come out clearly in the ensuing body sentences. This allows readers to understand how it relates to the overall article, thesis, or dissertation.   

What you state in the topic sentence should be backed by evidence. This will depend on your topic, discipline, and nature of the assignment. Evidence can include information drawn from primary sources, such as surveys or interviews that were conducted as part of the study, while secondary sources typically include personal experience based on practice, such as education. You must assess how much evidence needs to be provided to substantiate and prove your point.   

In the rest of the body sentences, the focus should be on your interpretation and analysis of the data and evidence, how these support your argument and the main thesis, and how it is building up to your conclusion. The paragraph can be wrapped up in a concluding sentence that underlines the implications of the evidence.   

4 strategies to enhance academic paragraphs     

In order to achieve clarity and coherence, every paragraph must advance the reader’s understanding of the topic, provide evidence or support for the main argument, and establish connections between ideas. Without this deliberate organization and structure, academic writing can become disjointed, confusing, and less persuasive.   

Using the right transition words

The main purpose of paragraphs is to provide logical sequencing to your ideas and main points. Hence, in moving from one point to another through paragraphs, the use of transition sentences helps in linking ideas presented in one paragraph to the next and previous ones. Transition sentences are usually used either at the beginning or the end of a paragraph.    

Adding citations and references

Where supporting evidence is provided from secondary sources, it is crucial to provide citations and references to acknowledge original sources and avoid the risk of plagiarism.    

Ensuring cohesion and flow

Each sentence in the paragraph should be relevant to the point you are conveying. Hence, while writing a paragraph, make sure that you have a topic sentence, body sentences which develop the ideas and provide evidence and interpretation, a linking sentence that links the point to the overall thesis of the assignment, and appropriate transitions. Then, evaluate whether these provide a cohesive whole and logical flow.   

Ideal length

The ideal length of a paragraph varies between 200 and 300 words, but it can be more. Ensure that a paragraph is neither too long nor too short and that there are sufficient explanations and analysis. Overly lengthy paragraphs with huge volumes of information tend to distract and confuse readers from the main argument.   

Once the paragraph has been written, a close reading is needed to assess whether the core idea is being communicated logically and if there is sufficient evidence and analysis. Each paragraph must link seamlessly with the previous ones using transitions. See that each sentence is conveyed coherently and relevant and that the thread of the argument is flowing clearly. By following the basic structure and key elements of academic paragraphs and implementing strategies to enhance clarity, cohesion, and flow, writers can effectively communicate their ideas and engage with scholarly discourse.  

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Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$19 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed.  

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What can you check to ensure that your essay is well organized? • A. That spelling errors have been removed B. That each paragraph has a clear topic O C. That word choices are specific and direct D. That sources have been properly cited

Answer: B. That each paragraph has a clear topic

Explanation: In order for your essay to be well organized, then each paragraph should have a clear topic.

Related Questions

What figurative language is the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,

The figurative language in the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas is metaphor .

Figurative language is a style of communication that employs extraneous meanings to communicate a more ethereal idea or message. There are several varieties, including personification, idioms, metaphors, similes, and metaphorical expressions.  Figurative language, which deviates from the usual order and meaning of words in order to convey a complex meaning, colorful writing, clarity, or evocative comparison. It refers to something without actually declaring it by using a regular sentence .

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Before officially announcing his bid for presidency, the former senator attended all of the steelworkers union rallies dressed in his rugged denim jeans, a lumberjack-style down vest, and a baseball cap. This is an example of A. bandwagon theme. B. testimonial. C. plain folks theme. D. glittering generality.

This is an example of the plain folk's theme. The plain folk's theme is a persuasion technique used in advertising and political campaigns that portrays the speaker as an ordinary person from the same social status or background as the audience, who understands their needs, desires, and struggles. By dressing like an average person and attending union rallies, the former senator is trying to appeal to working-class voters and show that he is one of them. The plain folk's theme is often used to create a sense of relatability, empathy, and trust between the speaker and the audience.

What are four subordinating conjunction ?

after, before, because, until

Answer:1.although

Explanation:Subordinating conjunctions are parts of speech that join dependent clauses to independent clauses.

"It was as if a martyr, a hero, had passed a slave or victim, and imparted strength in the transit" (Page 80)

The passing of a heroic figure gave strength to a victim, like a martyr's influence on those they encountered on their journey.

The quotation discusses how the departure of a hero, or martyr, may encourage and give strength to others they come into contact with, particularly a slave or victim. The word " in transit " implies that this contact is fleeting but significant.

This stirring picture exemplifies the value of effective leadership and the impact it can have on individuals who are disadvantaged or oppressed. It also emphasises the fortitude and tenacity of individuals who, despite the obstacles in their way, keep fighting for their independence and rights.

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1. Where do you often spend nights when you are away on a visit or holidays? Now do you or would make a reservation if you you to stay in a hotel ? Share your ideas with your friends .​

When we go on holidays we stay at hotels. We make a reservation at the hotel we are staying at,so when we go we can just check in and not wait for a room.

Explanation:

How do diving birds affect to the theme of wood carving?

They go into detail about the various ways that the ocean sustains animal life. The diving birds serve as a visual representation of the interaction between the sea and the organisms that rely on it for survival. Alternative C

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Complete question: How do the diving birds contribute to the theme of the poem?

A They symbolize the circle of life evident in the wood carving.

B They represent the movement depicted in the wood carving.

C They convey the ways in which the ocean sustains animal life.

D They highlight the sacrifices that are often made for art.

(05.01, 05.02, 05.03, 05.04, 05.05, 05.06, 05.07 HC) Read the stories, and then respond to the following writing prompt: In both stories, the characters face a difficult situation. In your opinion, which characters face the more difficult situation? Write a four to five paragraph essay to share your opinion. Use complete sentences and details from both stories to support your opinion. Hansel and Gretel Hansel and Gretel's mother had passed away a year ago, and their father had remarried a wicked woman. There was something evil about their stepmother, and the kids knew she wanted their father all to herself. She hated Hansel and Gretel and was always very cruel to them. One day, Hansel and Gretel's evil stepmother had them doing chores around the house. She refused to feed them, and they grew very hungry. Hansel stole a piece of bread from the kitchen when their stepmother wasn't looking. When he returned with it, Gretel suggested that they run away through the woods to eat it. Hansel didn't want to get lost in the woods, so he decided to mark their trail with small black and white stones that he had stolen from his father's box of checkers. As they ran deeper into the woods, Hansel dropped checkers here and there to mark the way home. Suddenly, they came upon a house that was entirely made of candy. Having only eaten a tiny bit of bread, Hansel and Gretel were starving. They began picking off gumdrops and stuffing their faces with the candy from the outside of the house. Then, a lovely, old lady emerged from the house. She invited them in and offered them even more candy and cake. At first, Hansel and Gretel were ecstatic for the treats, but they soon became uncomfortable around the woman. She explained that she had never had children of her own, so she built a house of candy hoping one day some children would come along so she could keep them. She was very lonely. Hansel and Gretel did not want to be kept like pets, and they wanted to go home to their father. They rushed out of the house and ran as fast as they could. They followed their checkers home until they ran into the loving embrace of their father, who had been up worrying about them. He cursed his wife for being so cruel to his children, and Hansel and Gretel promised that they would never run away again. Johnnie and Grizzle Johnnie and Grizzle were the children of a very poor woodcutter and his wife. Their father warned their mother that he feared they would soon have to get rid of the children. Otherwise, he thought they would all starve. Their mother begged and pleaded with their father. She couldn't bear to lose her children, but their father could see no other way for them to survive. They were too poor to buy food for everyone. He planned to lead the children out into the woods in the hopes that they might find food and learn to survive on their own. Johnnie and Grizzle heard about their father's plan. They collected all of their trinkets and toys to sell them to help earn money. They packed up a large bag, but their father interrupted their packing. He said that they were going to go out on a family walk through the woods. Johnnie was scared that their father would abandon them out in the woods. However, Grizzle assured Johnnie that she had a plan. As they walked, she dropped trinkets and little toys along the way to mark a path. Eventually, their father left them and ran back through the woods towards their house. They were alone and figured that they should let their father get a head start. They didn't want to get caught following him back home. As they waited, they looked around them. That's when Johnnie spotted something remarkable. He found a house entirely made of gingerbread and candy. Still starving, Johnnie and Grizzle began to chomp away at the candy decorations. They even chewed their way through the gingerbread walls. They had never seen such delicacies in all their life! Suddenly, a cruel-looking old woman came rushing out of the candy house. She was furious that the children had begun to eat her home. She threatened the children as she cursed at them. Johnnie and Grizzle ran terrified back through the woods, following their trail of trinkets home. Their mother greeted them with open arms. Their father cried and begged for his children's forgiveness. He promised that he would be a better father and find a way to take care of them so that they should never have to leave the home or fear going hungry. Please help me I'm in 4th grade or 5th I'll give 46 points

Johnnie and Grizzle are in a more difficult situation than Hansel and Gretel.

Hansel and Gretel are living in a difficult situation, but they have a father who loves them very much and takes care of them. Johnnie and Grizzle have no one to love them and their father is looking for a way to abandon them in the forest, without worrying about the dangers they may be subjected to.

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Discuss how you would greet the following people below in your culture,both formally and informally and share with us the consequences of not using the correct greeting when necessary peer: elder: parents ​

Answer: In my culture, greetings can vary depending on the relationship between individuals and the context of the situation. Here are some common greetings for the following people:

Formal: Hello [Name], it's nice to see you.

Informal: Hey [Name], what's up?

Consequences of not using the correct greeting:

If you use an overly formal greeting with a peer, it might come across as insincere or distant, which could harm your relationship. On the other hand, using an informal greeting with someone you don't know well could be perceived as disrespectful.

Formal: Good morning/afternoon/evening [Title or name], how are you?

Informal: Hi [Title or name], how's it going?

Not showing respect to an elder by using an informal greeting could be seen as rude and disrespectful in many cultures. It's important to use the appropriate title and show deference to older individuals.

Formal: Good morning/afternoon/evening, Mom/Dad. How are you doing?

Informal: Hey Mom/Dad, how's it going?

In most cultures, using an informal greeting with parents could be seen as disrespectful and could harm the relationship. In some cultures, it's important to use specific titles or honorifics when addressing parents or other family members to show respect and maintain a positive relationship.

"Her grave is in Brocklebridge Churchyard: for fifteen years after her death it was only covered by a grassy mound; but now a gray marble tablet marks the spot, inscribed with her name, and the word 'Resurgam'" (Page 98) .

After 15 years, a grey marble tablet inscribed with her name and "Resurgam" marks the grave of a woman in Brocklebridge Churchyard.

The chapter explains a woman's grave's location and background at brocklebridge Churchyard . The only thing above the grave for fifteen years after her passing was a green mound. However, a grey marble tablet bearing her name and the word " Resurgam " has since been placed there to serve as a marker.

The phrase "Resurgam" (Latin for "I shall rise again") denotes the notion that the body will someday rise again. The tablet implies that the woman was esteemed and cherished enough to warrant a permanent monument . The poem also makes hints about how memories and remembering to affect individuals who have passed away over time.

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Grandma and Grandpa loved to tell stories about the days before the Internet. subject and predicate​

The focus of the story is how much Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed telling them.

The predicate talks about the era before the Internet.

Linguistics and its related subjects use the word "predicate" in one of two ways. The first defines a predicate as everything in a typical declarative sentence other than the subject, while the second sees it as merely the clause's primary verb or other connected predicative phrase.

Frank enjoys cake, according to the   Internet . first definition, is a predicate that is true. In line with the second meaning, predicate Frank and cake serve as the predicate's arguments, while the content verb loves serves as the sentence's predicate.

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Which two lines highlight the dramatic irony of Bottom's situation?

The two lines in A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare that highlight the dramatic irony of Bottom's situation are: "O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?" said by Titania in Act III, Scene I and "Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee! Thou art translated." said by Quince in Act III, Scene I.

In the play, Bottom is a weaver who is transformed into a donkey by the mischievous fairy Puck. This transformation is unknown to Bottom, but he continues to interact with the other characters while he is in his new form. The two lines above highlight the dramatic irony of Bottom's situation, as Titania and Quince are addressing him as if he were still a human and unaware of his transformation.

The audience, however, is aware of Bottom's transformation and the humor lies in the characters' ignorance of the situation.

-----------The given question is incomplete, the complete question is: "Which two lines in A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare highlight the dramatic irony of Bottom's situation?"-----------

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Imagine that your school receives a federal grant of one million dollars to spend in whatever way school officials deem best. How would the money best be used to improve the school? Write a persuasive essay that describes specific problems at the school and explains how the money would help solve them. Be sure to organize your essay and support your argument with reasons and evidence. Question: What's would be your Introduction, with 4 topic sentences, and a conclusion??​

Answer: We will make a report on where the money is most needed and allocate accordingly.

Explanation:Introduction would be allocation of money received.Make a report on where the money is most necessary.

How will the money be given to the concerned areas.The person who will be in charge of it.

Checking for the allocation and status updates on how the money is being used.

Verification that the task has been completed and money well spent.

Conclusion.

How the money has made a difference in the infrastructue and improved environment.

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Explain Nicks meaning when he balances Gatsby supposed "corruption" against his "incorruptible dream"

Nick Carraway balances Jay Gatsby's corruption resulting from illegal activities with his incorruptible dream of winning Daisy's love and achieving the American Dream in "The Great Gatsby.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," Nick Carraway is the narrator who observes and comments on the actions of the other characters.

In Chapter 9, Nick reflects on Jay Gatsby's life and his experiences, particularly on how Gatsby's "corruption" contrasts with his " incorruptible dream."

By "corruption," Nick refers to Gatsby's involvement in illegal activities to accumulate wealth and win Daisy's love. Gatsby's obsession with wealth and status leads him to participate in bootlegging, gambling, and other illegal activities.

Despite Gatsby's immoral actions, Nick recognizes that he is not wholly corrupt, as his love for Daisy and his desire to attain the American Dream are genuine.

On the other hand, Nick sees Gatsby's dream as "incorruptible" because it is pure and noble, unlike his actions.

Gatsby's dream is to win Daisy's love and live a life of happiness and prosperity with her.

This dream is an embodiment of the American Dream, a belief that anyone, regardless of their background, can achieve success and happiness through hard work and determination.

By balancing Gatsby's supposed "corruption" against his "incorruptible dream," Nick highlights the moral complexity of the characters in the novel.

Nick recognizes that while Gatsby's actions may be immoral, his dream is not corrupted, and it serves as a symbol of hope and aspiration for many Americans.

Ultimately, Nick's reflections emphasize the fragility of the American Dream and how it can be corrupted by materialism and greed.

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Lines 9-11 ("I don't ... alone") contain an instance of (A) historical allusion (B) sly understatement (C) refined diction (D) formal invocation (E) dramatic aside (B) sly understatement

The lines 9-11 ("I don't ... alone") contain an instance of sly understatement. Option B.

The speaker is downplaying their abilities by saying they cannot solve the problem alone. This understatement is sly because it implies that the speaker is actually quite capable and does not need help, but is asking for it anyway.

By using this rhetorical device , the speaker is able to project humility while also asserting their authority and competency. Understatement is a common technique used in literature and rhetoric to create subtle irony or humor, and to downplay a situation for effect.

It allows the speaker to convey their message in a more nuanced way, and can be used to build rapport or establish a sense of humility with the audience. In this case, the understatement is a strategic move that enables the speaker to build trust with the listener, while also asserting their own competence .

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How does due process apply to court cases that do not involve a crime—that is, disagreements between people? Both sides are provided with attorneys. Either side can be found guilty. Both sides are entitled to a fair hearing. Either side can issue a warrant.

The due process apply to court cases that do not involve a crime—that is, disagreements between people is

Due process is a fundamental law of law that applies to all allowable proceedings, containing court cases that do not involve a crime or criminal charges.

Due process guarantees that individuals are considered fairly and fairly in legal experiments, regardless of the type of the dispute.In cases that do not involve a crime, in the way that civil lawsuits or disputes individuals, society applies by ensuring that two together sides are ready an opportunity to be perceived and present their case.

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What religion are Twinkle and Sanjeev?

The answer is Hindus.

Read the excerpt from "Farewell Address” by Dwight D. Eisenhower. But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs—balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage—balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between action of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. Read the excerpt from "Address Before a Joint Session of Congress” by Lyndon B. Johnson. In this age when there can be no losers in peace and no victors in war, we must recognize the obligation to match national strength with national restraint. We must be prepared at one and the same time for both the confrontation of power and the limitation of power. We must be ready to defend the national interest and to negotiate the common interest. This is the path that we shall continue to pursue. Those who test our courage will find it strong, and those who seek our friendship will find it honorable. We will demonstrate anew that the strong can be just in the use of strength; and the just can be strong in the defense of justice. Which statement best shows how the speakers’ perspectives are similar? Both speakers imply that having balance can make the country appear stronger. Both speakers say that striving for balance is the responsibility of the people. Both speakers say that having balance is an indication of weakness. Both speakers suggest that balance should be the goal of effective leadership.

The statement that best shows how the speakers’ perspectives are similar is that both speakers imply that having balance can make the country appear stronger. The viewpoint of the conversational partner serves as a guide for both the speaker and the listener while using language.

The point of view a speaker or writer uses to relate a story or deliver information is known as the vantage point, known also as a perspective. It's crucial that we recognize different viewpoints and incorporate them into the speeches we develop by identifying, recognizing, and incorporating them. Three methods—research, objectivity, and understanding your audience—can help you accomplish this.  

A referent object, terms of reference, and a point of view are all components of perspective. By giving individuals a way to share ideas, emotions, and knowledge, communication enables interaction and the development of deep connections. Therefore, receiving, understanding, and verifying the speaker's perspective are all parts of critical listening from their point of view.

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Identify the word in the participial phrase in the following sentence modifies. On vacation, we saw many ducks swimming in the lake

The word that is modified by the participial phrase in the following sentence is: ducks.

A participial phrase is a group of words that includes a present or past participle and its modifiers. It functions as an adjective and describes a noun or a pronoun in a sentence.

In the sentence that we are given, the participial phrase is "swimming in the lake," and the word that it modifies is " ducks ." The phrase provides additional information about the ducks, indicating what they were doing while on vacation.

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to some americans, the words of emma lazarus are out national credo. others say theyre our national curse. what do you think? credo? curse? both? neither? make a claim and support your claim with evidence from the text

You might agree that Emma Lazarus' words are a creed if you think that America can be a haven of peace and prosperity for immigrants. You might think those words are a curse if you think that immigrants are a burden on American society.

Emma Lazarus' words are "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." They are written on the Statue of Liberty , being an invitation for immigrants who live negatively in their countries to travel to America where they can find a good life.

Indeed, America can offer better living conditions for some people, but the excess of immigrants can be a difficult element for the American government. For this reason, many people disagree with the words of Emma Lazarus.

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leslie is worried and distressed because her doctor told her that her birth would be difficult because her baby was in position to come out buttocks first. her doctor recommends she:

Many solutions may be suggested by Leslie's doctor if her baby is breech (buttocks first), depending on the stage of pregnancy and the particular case. Here are some potential advice that her doctor may give, are listed below for distressed .

External cephalic version (ECV): This treatment involves applying pressure to the mother's tummy from the outside in an effort to put the baby into a head-down position. The infant can sometimes be successfully turned with ECV, which is typically performed between 36 and 38 weeks of pregnancy.

Leslie must explore all the advantages and disadvantages of these possibilities with her doctor in order to decide what is best for her and her unborn child.

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Read "Winter Sleep" by Edith Matilda Thomas. Then, answer the question that follows. I know it must be winter (though I sleep)— I know it must be winter, for I dream I dip my bare feet in the running stream, And flowers are many, and the grass grows deep. I know I must be old (how age deceives!) I know I must be old, for, all unseen, My heart grows young, as autumn fields grow green When late rains patter on the falling sheaves. I know I must be tired (and tired souls err)— I know I must be tired, for all my soul To deeds of daring beats a glad, faint roll, As storms the riven pine to music stir. I know I must be dying (Death draws near)— I know I must be dying, for I crave Life—life, strong life, and think not of the grave, And turf-bound silence, in the frosty year. In Thomas's poem, winter is used to symbolize the speaker's approaching death. Which of the following lines from the poem best supports this symbolism? A) I dip my bare feet in the running stream B) And turf-bound silence, in the frosty year C) And flowers are many and the grass grows deep D) My heart grows young, as autumn fields grow green

The line from the poem that best supports the symbolism of winter representing the speaker's approaching death is "And turf-bound silence, in the frosty year." The correct option is B.

In the poem , the speaker talks about dreaming of dipping their feet in a running stream, flowers being plentiful, and grass growing deep, which are all symbols of life and vitality. However, the final stanza of the poem reveals that the speaker is aware of their impending death.

The line "And turf-bound silence, in the frosty year" emphasizes the stillness and finality of death, with "turf-bound silence" referring to the cold, frozen ground of winter and "the frosty year" symbolizing the end of life. This line contrasts with the earlier imagery of a running stream and growing grass, emphasizing the theme of mortality and the inevitable approach of death.

The correct option is B.

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IMAGINE YOU ARE GOPLALA WRITE A DIALOGUE IN NOT MORE THAN 120 WORDS BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR FRIEND ANANTHA AS YOU BOTH CONVERSATE ABOUT THINGS HAPPEND DURING FROM ABSENS FROM SCHOOL

this would be the answers thank you

Gopala: Hi Anantha, how are you doing? It's been a while since we last talked.

Anantha: Hi Gopala, I'm doing well, thanks. How about you?

Gopala: I'm good too. I missed a few days of school last week, what did I miss?

Anantha: Well, we had a math test on Thursday that you missed. It was pretty tough.

Gopala: Oh no, I hope I didn't miss any important notes or lessons.

Anantha: Don't worry, we can catch you up on everything you missed. Also, we had a new student join our class last week. His name is Rahul, and he seems like a cool guy.

Gopala: That's great to hear. I can't wait to meet him. Thanks for letting me know, Anantha.

a fourth-grade class has just finished writing a persuasive essay, and now the teacher would like each student to give a 90 second oral presentation to the class. with teacher guidance, the students have pulled the main points and supporting ideas from their essay and created note cards to use while presenting. what is the next step the teacher should take to ensure students have successful presentations?

The next step the teacher should take to ensure students have successful presentations is to provide them with guidance on how to effectively deliver their speech. This could include the following:

Model the presentation: The teacher could model a sample presentation, showing the class how to use the note cards effectively, how to maintain eye contact with the audience, and how to use gestures and tone of voice to engage the audience.

Provide feedback: The teacher could provide feedback to each student on their note cards, suggesting ways to improve their organization and clarity.

Encourage practice: The teacher could encourage students to practice their presentations at home or during class, using a timer to ensure they stay within the 90-second time limit.

Create a supportive environment: The teacher could create a supportive environment for the presentations, encouraging the class to listen attentively and offer positive feedback to their peers.

By providing guidance and support in these ways, the teacher can help students feel confident and prepared for their oral presentations, leading to successful outcomes and a positive learning experience.

Read the excerpt from "Climate Change: An Overview." One skeptic has often railed against "this whole global warming hoax," pointing to brutal winters in recent years as evidence. Neil Kagan, senior counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, mused that in no other area would journalists be covering so much of the minority viewpoint. Which word from this excerpt has a negative connotation? railed evidence mused covering

Will be railed because the word in this excerpt has a bad connotation.

Option A is the right choice.

A term or statement with a negative connotation connotes anything unfavourable or unfavourable. In addition to its literal definition, it refers to the cultural or emotional connotations that a term has.

Fossil fuel combustion and deforestation are affecting the climate globally. In terms of anthropogenic climate change, this is the theory that is most largely accepted. The mental resources needed for driving are depleted while talking on a mobile, which raises the likelihood of a car collision.

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What does Shakespeare's Hamlet mean when he says the following? "Be not too tame neither, but let your discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature."

Explanation: I think he means that we shouldn't be too shy to explore things but also to not be so curious.  We should do what we say we are going to do and not say it just to say it. We shouldn't overdue anything that's in our nature.

(I really tried to comprehend as best as "I" could)

In what two ways would the story most likely differ if it were told from Rita's point of view? The reader would be more aware of the father's relationship within the family. The narrator would be sympathetic toward Ralphie as the middle sibling. The narrator would reveal clues from the past to explain her behavior. The reader would have a better understanding of Rita's resentment of Ralphie. The reader would learn more about Rita and Ralphie's younger brother.

The narrator would reveal clues from the past to explain her behavior and  The reader would have a better understanding of Rita's resentment of Ralphie. These correct option are C and D.

A narrator is someone who tells stories. In a fictional work , the narrator selects the point of view for the story. If the narrator actively takes part in the events of the story, the narrative is said to be in the first person. When a narrative is being told by someone who is not one of the characters, the third person is employed..

In first-person narration, the narrator assumes the identity of a character and recounts the story from their own point of view. In the narration, the pronoun I (or us, if the narrator uses it on behalf of a group) is frequently employed.

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The complete question is -

In what two ways would the story most likely differ if it were told from Rita's point of view?

A. The reader would be more aware of the father's relationship within the family.

B. The narrator would be sympathetic toward Ralphie as the middle sibling.

C. The narrator would reveal clues from the past to explain her behavior.

D. The reader would have a better understanding of Rita's resentment of Ralphie.

E. The reader would learn more about Rita and Ralphie's younger brother.

President carters speech used repetition but did not use figurative language or an analogy? True or False

President carters speech used repetition but did not use figurative language or an analogy. This is False

Figurative language refers to the use of words or phrases that go beyond their literal meaning in order to create a more vivid or imaginative picture in the reader or listener's mind.

Examples of figurative language include metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole, and idioms. Figurative language is often used in literature, poetry, and speeches to add depth, emotion, and creativity to the text.

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Which statement best describes the context of a literary work?

Answer: Giving a background or overall view of the situation and the parties involved is the main goal of context. A literary text's context is a crucial component that engages the reader. Writers risk missing an important facet of the story's intent if they ignore context.

Question 26 Marks: 1 A pool filtration system should filter the entire volume of water every ______.Choose one answer. a. 2 to 3 hours b. 6 to 8 hours c. 10 to 12 hours d. 12 to 24 hours

A pool filtration system should filter the entire volume of water every 6 to 8 hours. Therefore, B is the correct option.

Pool filtration systems should filter the entire volume of water every 6 to 8 hours in order to keep the water clean and clear. This ensures that the pool water is safe and free from contaminants . The water in your pool must travel through the filter at least once every day if you want it to stay clean. Therefore, the length of time your filter runs will depend on the size of your pool. The majority of swimming pool specialists advise eight hours each day. At least once or twice a day, you should turn the water in your swimming pool. In hot weather or with a high volume of bathers, run your filter longer. As a general rule, turn on your sand filter for one hour for every ten degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, the pool filter shouldn't be running constantly .

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Central idea of commonlit (from slaves to sharecroppers)

C - After slavery was abolished, many freedmen became sharecroppers and were exploited by landlords defines the text's major point.

According to Leigh Dekle's enlightening essay From Slaves to Sharecroppers, former slaves became sharecroppers alongside their own masters and others. At the same time, some landlords established such high prices for seeds and lodging that these sharecroppers were forced back into debt, resulting in a new type of enslavement.

The sharecropping system, while theoretically advantageous to both labourers and landowners, usually left workers in deep debt to their landlords and creditors from one harvest season to the next.

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PART A: Which statement identifies the central idea of the text?

A - While slavery ended, freedmen were only allowed to work on plantations as sharecroppers.

B - Former slaves were able to successfully integrate into society by becoming sharecroppers for their former masters.

C - After slavery ended, many freedmen became sharecroppers and were taken advantage of by landowners.

D - Sharecropping was a successful means of providing for former slaves who didn’t have the education or skills for other work.

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• How to conclude an essay | Interactive example

How to Conclude an Essay | Interactive Example

Published on January 24, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The conclusion is the final paragraph of your essay . A strong conclusion aims to:

• Tie together the essay’s main points
• Show why your argument matters
• Leave the reader with a strong impression

Your conclusion should give a sense of closure and completion to your argument, but also show what new questions or possibilities it has opened up.

This conclusion is taken from our annotated essay example , which discusses the history of the Braille system. Hover over each part to see why it’s effective.

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Table of contents

Step 1: return to your thesis, step 2: review your main points, step 3: show why it matters, what shouldn’t go in the conclusion, more examples of essay conclusions, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay conclusion.

To begin your conclusion, signal that the essay is coming to an end by returning to your overall argument.

Don’t just repeat your thesis statement —instead, try to rephrase your argument in a way that shows how it has been developed since the introduction.

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Next, remind the reader of the main points that you used to support your argument.

Avoid simply summarizing each paragraph or repeating each point in order; try to bring your points together in a way that makes the connections between them clear. The conclusion is your final chance to show how all the paragraphs of your essay add up to a coherent whole.

To wrap up your conclusion, zoom out to a broader view of the topic and consider the implications of your argument. For example:

• Does it contribute a new understanding of your topic?
• Does it raise new questions for future study?
• Does it lead to practical suggestions or predictions?
• Can it be applied to different contexts?
• Can it be connected to a broader debate or theme?

Whatever your essay is about, the conclusion should aim to emphasize the significance of your argument, whether that’s within your academic subject or in the wider world.

Try to end with a strong, decisive sentence, leaving the reader with a lingering sense of interest in your topic.

The easiest way to improve your conclusion is to eliminate these common mistakes.

Don’t include new evidence

Any evidence or analysis that is essential to supporting your thesis statement should appear in the main body of the essay.

The conclusion might include minor pieces of new information—for example, a sentence or two discussing broader implications, or a quotation that nicely summarizes your central point. But it shouldn’t introduce any major new sources or ideas that need further explanation to understand.

Don’t use “concluding phrases”

Avoid using obvious stock phrases to tell the reader what you’re doing:

• “In conclusion…”
• “To sum up…”

These phrases aren’t forbidden, but they can make your writing sound weak. By returning to your main argument, it will quickly become clear that you are concluding the essay—you shouldn’t have to spell it out.

Don’t undermine your argument

Avoid using apologetic phrases that sound uncertain or confused:

• “This is just one approach among many.”
• “There are good arguments on both sides of this issue.”
• “There is no clear answer to this problem.”

Even if your essay has explored different points of view, your own position should be clear. There may be many possible approaches to the topic, but you want to leave the reader convinced that yours is the best one!

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• Argumentative
• Literary analysis

This conclusion is taken from an argumentative essay about the internet’s impact on education. It acknowledges the opposing arguments while taking a clear, decisive position.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

This conclusion is taken from a short expository essay that explains the invention of the printing press and its effects on European society. It focuses on giving a clear, concise overview of what was covered in the essay.

The invention of the printing press was important not only in terms of its immediate cultural and economic effects, but also in terms of its major impact on politics and religion across Europe. In the century following the invention of the printing press, the relatively stationary intellectual atmosphere of the Middle Ages gave way to the social upheavals of the Reformation and the Renaissance. A single technological innovation had contributed to the total reshaping of the continent.

This conclusion is taken from a literary analysis essay about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . It summarizes what the essay’s analysis achieved and emphasizes its originality.

By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Your essay’s conclusion should contain:

• A rephrased version of your overall thesis
• A brief review of the key points you made in the main body
• An indication of why your argument matters

The conclusion may also reflect on the broader implications of your argument, showing how your ideas could applied to other contexts or debates.

For a stronger conclusion paragraph, avoid including:

• Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the main body
• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion…”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g. “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

The conclusion paragraph of an essay is usually shorter than the introduction . As a rule, it shouldn’t take up more than 10–15% of the text.

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Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 1 of 93 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA WEST PALM BEACH DIVISION CASE NO. 23-80101-CR-CANNON UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, V. DONALD J. TRUMP, WALTINE NAUTA, and CARLOS DE OLIVEIRA, Defendants. ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT BASED ON APPOINTMENTS CLAUSE VIOLATION Former President Trump's Motion to Dismiss Indictment Based on the Unlawful Appointment and Funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED in accordance with this Order [ECF No. 326]. The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith's appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution. U.S. Const., Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. Special Counsel Smith's use of a permanent indefinite appropriation also violates the Appropriations Clause, U.S. Const., Art. I, § 9, cl. 7, but the Court need not address the proper remedy for that funding violation given the dismissal on Appointments Clause grounds. The effect of this Order is confined to this proceeding. INTRODUCTION The Motion before the Court challenges the legality of Special Counsel Smith (hereinafter, "Special Counsel Smith" or "Special Counsel") in two consequential respects, both of which are matters of first impression in this Circuit, and both of which must be resolved before this 1

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 2 of 93 prosecution proceeds further [ECF No. 326]. The first is a challenge to his appointment under the Appointments Clause, which provides the exclusive means for appointing "Officers of the United States." Article II, § 2, cl. 2. The Appointments Clause sets as a default rule that all “Officers of the United States”—whether “inferior” or “principal”—must be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Id. It then goes on to direct that "Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in Heads of Departments." Id. For purposes of this Order, the Court accepts the Special Counsel's contested view that he qualifies as an “inferior Officer,” not a “principal” one, although the Court expresses reservations about that proposition and addresses those arguments below. The Motion's second challenge is rooted in the Appropriations Clause, which prohibits any money from being "drawn from the Treasury” unless such funding has been appropriated by an act of Congress. Art. I, § 9, cl. 7 (“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law. . . ."). Both the Appointments and Appropriations challenges as framed in the Motion raise the following threshold question: is there a statute in the United States Code that authorizes the appointment of Special Counsel Smith to conduct this prosecution? After careful study of this seminal issue, the answer is no. None of the statutes cited as legal authority for the appointment- 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533—gives the Attorney General broad inferior-officer appointing power or bestows upon him the right to appoint a federal officer with the kind of prosecutorial power wielded by Special Counsel Smith. Nor do the Special Counsel's strained statutory arguments, appeals to inconsistent history, or reliance on out-of-circuit authority persuade otherwise. 2

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 3 of 93 The bottom line is this: The Appointments Clause is a critical constitutional restriction stemming from the separation of powers, and it gives to Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers. The Special Counsel's position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers. If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States Attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so. He can be appointed and confirmed through the default method prescribed in the Appointments Clause, as Congress has directed for United States Attorneys throughout American history, see 28 U.S.C. § 541, or Congress can authorize his appointment through enactment of positive statutory law consistent with the Appointments Clause. This Order proceeds as follows. After laying forth pertinent factual and procedural background leading to the present Motion, the Court summarizes the legal principles underlying the Appointments Clause and the separation-of-powers doctrine on which it rests. The Court then surveys the statutory structure of the Department of Justice, focusing on the provisions which grant the Attorney General appointment authority. Following that contextual summary, the Court engages with the text, context, and structure of each of the statutes cited in the Appointment Order. Finding no officer-appointing authority in the cited statutes—and seeing no reason in the mixed historical record to deviate from the absence of such authority-the Court addresses the Supreme Court's dictum with respect to those statutes in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 694 (1974). As the Nixon decision and record bear out, the Attorney General's statutory appointment authority, or the matter of the Appointments Clause more generally, was not raised, argued, disputed, or analyzed; at most, the Supreme Court assumed without deciding that the Attorney General 3

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 4 of 93 possessed statutory appointment authority over the special prosecutor involved in that action. Following the discussion of Nixon and related out-of-circuit precedent, the Court turns to the question whether Special Counsel Smith is a principal officer requiring Presidential nomination and Senatorial consent. On that issue, although there are compelling arguments in favor of a principal-officer designation given the regulatory framework under which he operates, the Court rejects the position based on the available Supreme Court guidance. The Court then examines the question of remedy, concluding that dismissal of this action is the only appropriate solution for the Appointments Clause violation. Finally, the Court considers the Appropriations Clause challenge to the funding of Special Counsel Smith, concluding for many of the same reasons that Congress has not authorized the appropriation of money to be drawn for the expenses of his office. The Order concludes there, finding it unnecessary under the current posture to reach the remedy question for the Appropriations Clause violation. PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND OVERVIEW OF MOTION On June 8, 2023, a grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment, signed by the Special Counsel, charging former President Trump with thirty-one counts of willful retention of national defense information in his Mar-a-Lago residence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(e) [ECF No. 3]. The indictment also brought seven conspiracy and concealment charges against Trump and Waltine Nauta, collectively and/or individually [ECF No. 3 (charging 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(k), 1512(b)(2)(A), 1512(c)(2), 1519, 1001(a)(2), 2)]. On July 27, 2023, the grand jury returned a Superseding Indictment, also signed by the Special Counsel, increasing the number of total charges to forty-two, and adding a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira [ECF No. 85]. 4

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 5 of 93 On February 22, 2024, Trump filed the instant Motion [ECF No. 326].¹ The Special Counsel filed an Opposition on March 7, 2024 [ECF No. 374], and Trump filed a Reply on March 24, 2024 [ECF No. 414].² Three sets of amicus parties filed briefs on the Appointments Clause question [ECF Nos. 364-1, 586-587, 618 ("Meese amici"); ECF No. 410-2 (“Landmark Legal amici"); ECF No. 429 ("Constitutional Lawyers amici")]. And the Court later ordered and received supplemental briefing addressing the need for factual development on the Motion [ECF No. 588; see ECF No. 617, 619–620]. Finally, on June 21 and 24, 2024, the Court heard lengthy oral argument on the Motion from the parties and the authorized amici.³ The Motion seeks dismissal of the Superseding Indictment “based on the unlawful appointment and funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith” [ECF No. 326]. The Motion argues that his appointment violates the Appointments Clause for two basic reasons: (1) Special Counsel Smith was not nominated by the President or confirmed by the Senate, as would be required for the appointment of a principal officer or for the appointment of an inferior officer as to which Congress has not authorized such appointment, and (2) even accepting the position that he qualifies as an inferior officer, none of the statutes cited in the Appointment Order, see 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533, vests the Attorney General with authority to appoint a special counsel “with the full power and authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States Attorney," as is the case with Special Counsel Smith, see 28 C.F.R. § 600.6. The Motion 1 Defendants De Oliveira and Nauta join the Motion [ECF Nos. 331, 611]. 2 Defendant Trump stood trial in New York state criminal court from April 15, 2024, through late May 2024 [ECF No. 421]. 3 The Appointments Clause challenge was argued on June 21, 2024; the Appropriations Clause challenge was argued on June 24, 2024. Transcripts for these hearings can be located at ECF Nos. 647 and 648. 5

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 6 of 93 separately raises an Appropriations Clause challenge because (1) he is drawing on a permanent indefinite appropriation reserved for an “independent counsel" under a statutory appropriation that does not apply to him, see Department of Justice Appropriations Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100- 202, 101 Stat. 1329 (Dec. 22, 1987) (hereinafter, “Indefinite Appropriation"); and (2) there is no "other Law" authorizing the appropriation as to him [ECF No. 326]. The Special Counsel opposes both challenges. As to the Appointments Clause issue, he urges that the Attorney General exercised statutory authority in 28 U.S.C. §§ 515 and 533 to appoint him, citing the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), D.C. Circuit authority, and historical practice [ECF No. 374 pp. 1–16]. As to the Appropriations Clause issue, Special Counsel Smith argues that he lawfully draws from the Indefinite Appropriation for independent counsels, because he retains substantial independence from the Attorney General and was appointed pursuant to "other law" in the form of the same statutes cited above 28 U.S.C. §§ 515 and 533. In any case, Special Counsel Smith continues, any appropriations defect should not result in dismissal of the Superseding Indictment because the Department could lawfully have drawn funds from another source to investigate and prosecute this action [ECF No. 374 p. 25]. FACTUAL BACKGROUND I. Smith Appointment Order On November 18, 2022, by Order Number 5559-2022, Attorney General Garland appointed John L. Smith, an attorney from outside the United States Government, to serve as 6

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 7 of 93 Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice. 4 Special Counsel Smith was not nominated by the President or confirmed by the Senate. The Appointment Order states that Attorney General Garland is "vested" with appointment authority to issue the Appointment Order pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533―statutes discussed further below. The Appointment Order then authorizes the Special Counsel to conduct two specified "ongoing investigation[s]" and to "prosecute federal crimes arising from" those investigations. Appointment Order at 1-2. The first investigation relates to "efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election.” Id. at 1. The second investigation is "referenced and described in the United States' Response to Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief, Donald J. Trump v. United States, No. 9:22-CV-81294-AMC (S.D. Fla. Aug. 30, 2022) (ECF No. 49 at 5–13), as well as any matters that arose or may arise directly from this investigation or that are within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a)." Id. at 2. The instant Superseding Indictment—and the only indictment at issue in this Order—arises from the latter investigation. With respect to funding, all parties agree that Special Counsel Smith's office has been funded since its inception using "a permanent indefinite appropriation . . . established within the Department of Justice to pay all necessary expenses of investigations and prosecutions by independent counsel appointed pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 591 et seq. [now expired] or other law." 101 Stat. 1329. This is a limitless appropriation. As of September 2023, Special 4 The Appointment Order is made part of the record on this Motion and is referred to herein as the "Appointment Order." See https://www.justice.gov/d9/press- releases/attachments/2022/11/18/2022.11.18_order_5559-2022.pdf. The Department of Justice's main webpage contains an "Oversight” category with links to webpages for various Special Counsel's Offices, including that of Jack Smith. https://www.justice.gov/agencies/chart/grid; https://www.justice.gov/sco-smith. 7

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 8 of 93 Counsel Smith's Statement of Expenditures reflects $12,807,668 in direct expenses drawn from the Indefinite Appropriation, plus an additional $11,096,601 in “component” expenses “attributable to this investigation,” also drawn from the Indefinite Appropriation.5 II. Special Counsel Regulations At the end of the Appointment Order, there is the following reference to Department of Justice regulations: "Sections 600.4 to 600.10 of title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations are applicable to the Special Counsel." Appointment Order at 2. Those regulations, hereinafter referred to as the "Special Counsel Regulations” or “Regulations,” are in force today, and they stem from a Final Rule promulgated by the Office of the Attorney General in July 1999 and later codified at 28 C.F.R. §§ 600.1 through 600.10. See Office of Special Counsel, 64 Fed. Reg. 37038 (July 9, 1999). The Notice of Final Rule states that the regulations "replace the procedures for appointment of independent counsel pursuant to the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994," and it cites as statutory authority the following seven statutes in Title 28, Chapter 31 of the United States Code: 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515–519.7 6 The Special Counsel Regulations consist of ten sections spanning various topics, ranging from jurisdiction, power, staffing, conduct, and accountability, among others. 28 C.F.R. §§ 600.1– 600.10. As most relevant here, and as explored more fully below, the Special Counsel Regulations 5 Special Counsel's Office - Smith Statement of Expenditures, November 18, 2022 through March 31, 2023; Special Counsel's Office – Smith Statement of Expenditures, April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023. See https://www.justice.gov/sco-smith (last visited July 13, 2024). No additional financial statements have been published yet. 6 This rule was deemed exempted from the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act on the view that it "relate[d] to matters of agency management or personnel." 64 Fed Reg. at 37041. 7 28 U.S.C. § 533, cited in the Appointment Order, is not among the authorizing statutes listed in the Final Rule. 8

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 9 of 93 declare the grounds for appointing a Special Counsel from "outside the United States Government," id. §§ 600.1, 600.3 (referencing “a conflict of interest for the Department or other extraordinary circumstance"); direct the Attorney General to “establish[]" the “jurisdiction of a Special Counsel" through a "specific factual statement of the matter to be investigated," with any expansion of that jurisdiction to be determined by the Attorney General, id. § 600.4(a)- (b); authorize the Special Counsel to wield, "within the scope of his or her jurisdiction, the full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States Attorney,” id. § 600.6, and without being “subject to the day-to-day supervision of any official of the Department,” id. § 600.7(b); permit the Attorney General to remove the Special Counsel but only "for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies,” id. § 600.7(d); give the Special Counsel discretion to “determine whether and to what extent to inform or consult with the Attorney General or others within the Department about the conduct of his or her duties and responsibilities," id. § 600.6; permit (but do not require) the Attorney General to seek explanations from the Special Counsel about "any investigative or prosecutorial step," id. § 600.7(b); dictate that the Special Counsel "shall comply with the rules, regulations, procedures, practices and policies of the Department of Justice," id. § 600.7(a); and authorize the Attorney General, on a permissive basis, and after “review," to determine that a particular action of the Special Counsel should not be pursued because it is "so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental practices,” id. § 600.7(b) except that if the Attorney General makes that determination, he must notify Congress of his decision to countermand the Special Counsel, id. § 600.9. Distilled down for present purposes, the Special Counsel Regulations mandate that the Special Counsel be selected from outside the Department, and then they empower that outside attorney to exercise "all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States Attorney" within his jurisdiction. Id. § 600.6. 9

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 10 of 93 III. Independent Counsel Act, Morrison v. Olson, and Lapse of Independent Counsel Act Prior to promulgation of the Special Counsel Regulations—specifically, from 1978 through 1999 (with a two-year gap between 1992 and 1994)—there was a statute that expressly authorized the appointment of independent counsels. That statute was the now-expired Independent Counsel Act, passed as part of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. Pub. L. No. 95–521, §§ 601-04, 92 Stat. 1824, 1867–75, as amended by Pub. L. No. 97-409, 96 Stat. 2039 (1983), Pub. L. No. 100–191, 101 Stat. 1293 (1987), Pub. L. No. 103–270, 180 Stat. 732 (1994). Under the now-expired Independent Counsel Act, Congress authorized the Attorney General after finding "reasonable grounds to believe that further investigation [was] warranted" to request that a three-judge panel (termed “division of the court") appoint an “independent counsel" to "fully investigate and prosecute" violations of federal criminal law by certain categories of executive persons, including Presidents and former Presidents for a year after leaving office. 28 U.S.C. § 591(a)–(b); id. § 592(c)(1)(A), (d). Under that framework, the judicial division would "appoint an appropriate independent counsel" from outside the United States government and “define that independent counsel's prosecutorial jurisdiction." Id. § 593(b)(1)— (2); see also id. § 593(c) (authorizing judges to "expand the prosecutorial jurisdiction of an independent counsel"). Once appointed, the independent counsel would have the "full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions and powers of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General, and any other officer or employee of the Department of Justice." Id. § 594(a). The legality of the Independent Counsel Act took center stage in Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), a suit challenging and upholding the statute under the Appointments Clause and 10

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 11 of 93 other constitutional provisions and principles. In 1994, after Morrison, Congress reauthorized the Independent Counsel Act in accordance with its five-year sunset provision. 28 U.S.C. § 599.9 But then in 1999, when the matter of reauthorization returned to the legislative table—and in the wake of meaningful criticism of the Act 10_Congress let the Act expire and has never reauthorized it since. At that time, then-Attorney General Janet Reno opposed reauthorization in a public statement to Congress. 11 Attorney General Reno expressed various criticisms of the Act¹² and called for a return to what she described as a "non-statutory independent counsel" built on a set of preexisting regulatory procedures that were premised on the Attorney General's “authority to 8 The Supreme Court rejected related challenges to the appointment under Articles II and III of the Constitution. Id. at 684, 678-696. 9 Congress reauthorized the Act in 1983 and 1987 but then let it expire in 1992, ultimately reauthorizing it in 1994. See Ethics in Government Act Amendments of 1982, Pub. L. No. 97- 409, 96 Stat. 2039 (1983); Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1987, P.L. 100-191, 101 Stat. 1293 (1987); Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994, P.L. 103-270, 108 Stat. 732 (1994). 10 Brett M. Kavanaugh, The President and the Independent Counsel, 86 Geo. L.J. 2133, 2135– 2137 (1998) (recommending that Congress enact an amended statute authorizing the President to appoint a special counsel, with advice and consent of Senate). 11 See Statement of Attorney General Janet Reno Concerning the Independent Counsel Act, Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate (Mar. 17, 1999), available at https://www.justice.gov/archive/ag/testimony/1999/aggovern031799.htm. 12 Attorney General Reno observed that the Act "distort[ed]" the process of prosecutorial discretion by "creat[ing] a new category of prosecutors” with “no practical limits on their time or budgets," thus artificially incentivizing prosecution; vested an independent counsel “with the full gamut of prosecutorial powers, but with little of its accountability"; applied too broadly to various categories of public officials, most of whom could be prosecuted by the Department of Justice without conflicts; contained an unduly broad and malleable “triggering mechanism,” resulting in appointments that ordinarily would not have been sought; created disputes about the independent prosecutor's jurisdiction; made removal of an independent counsel by the Attorney General politically difficult; and contained a final-report requirement that “created a forum for unfairly airing a target's dirty laundry," among other issues. Id. 11

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 12 of 93 appoint a special prosecutor when the situation demands it.” Id. Then, a day after the Independent Counsel Act expired, the same Special Counsel Regulations described above came into being to "replace the procedures for appointment” under the lapsed Act. See 64 Fed. Reg. 37038-01. As noted, the Special Counsel Regulations have remained in place without change since their effective date in July 1999, with at least one unsuccessful legislative effort in 2019 to enact a special counsel statute. 13 No such special counsel statute exists today, and no such statute existed in November 2022 when Attorney General Garland issued the Appointment Order. APPOINTMENTS CLAUSE DISCUSSION I. Background Legal Principles Article II, Section 2, Clause 2: He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. The Appointments Clause “prescribes the exclusive means of appointing ‘Officers of the United States."" Lucia v. Sec. & Exch. Comm'n, 585 U.S. 237, 244 (2018). An "Officer of the United States," as distinct from a non-officer employee, is any appointee who exercises "significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States," Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 126 (1976), and who occupies a “continuing' position established by law,” Lucia, 585 U.S. at 245 (quoting United States v. Germaine, 99 U.S. 508, 511–12 (1878)); Edmond v. United States, 520 13 See S. 71, 116th Cong. (2019) (proposed legislation copying Special Counsel Regulations almost verbatim). 12

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 13 of 93 U.S. 651, 662 (1997) (“The exercise of ‘significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States; marks, not the line between principal and inferior officer for Appointments Clause purposes, but rather, as we said in Buckley, the line between officer and nonofficer." (quoting Buckley, 424 U.S. at 126)). The Appointments Clause establishes "two classes" of Constitutional officers: “principal” officers and "inferior” officers. Germaine, 99 U.S. at 509-10.14 Principal officers must be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Art. II, § 2, cl. 2; Edmond, 520 U.S. at 659; United States v. Arthrex, Inc., 594 U.S. 1, 12 (2021). That mechanism- Presidential nomination and Senatorial confirmation—is the "default manner of appointment" for principal and inferior officers. Arthrex, Inc., 594 U.S. at 12. But the Appointments Clause provides another means to facilitate inferior-officer appointments, and it does so through the so- called "Excepting Clause." Edmond, 520 U.S. at 660. That clause permits Congress—"by law," and as it "thinks proper”-to “vest” the appointment of such inferior officers in three places, and only three places: “in the president alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments." Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. But “any decision to dispense with Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation is Congress's to make, not the President's.” Weiss v. United States, 510 U.S. 163, 187 (1994) (Souter, J., concurring) (emphasis added); United States v. Perkins, 116 U.S. 483, 485 (1886) ("The head of a department has no constitutional prerogative of appointment to offices independently of the legislation of congress, and by such legislation he must be governed, not only in making appointments, but in all that is incident thereto.”). Importantly, the Framers considered, and initially maintained, a proposal by which the President alone would have had the authority to "appoint officers in all cases not otherwise 14 The principles governing inferior versus principal officer are explored below. Infra pp. 67–80. 13

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 14 of 93 provided for by this Constitution."" Morrison, 487 U.S. at 675 (quoting 1 Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, pp. 183, 185 (M. Farrand ed. 1966)). That proposal, however, was replaced on September 15, 1787, when Gouverneur Morris moved to add the Excepting Clause to Article II, which was adopted shortly thereafter. That left Congress with an important—though circumscribed role in vesting appointment authority for inferior officers. Id. The Framers' rejection of unilateral executive-appointment authority traces its roots to the American colonial experience with the English monarchy and to the Framers' desire to limit executive aggrandizement by requiring shared legislative and executive participation in the area of appointments. See Edmond, 520 U.S. at 559-660; Freytag v. Comm'r, 501 U.S. 868, 884 (1991) (examining historical sources on the subject of executive appointment-power abuses); Weiss, 510 U.S. at 184 (1994) (Souter, J., concurring) (discussing Framers' awareness of the English monarchy's pre-revolutionary "manipulation of official appointments" and corresponding recognition "that lodging the appointment power in the President alone would pose much the same risk as lodging it exclusively in Congress: the risk of an incautious or corrupt nomination." (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted)); Trump v. United States, 144 S. Ct. 2312, 2349 (2024) (Thomas, J., concurring). For these and other reasons, and as the Supreme Court has emphasized, the Appointments Clause is "more than a matter of ‘etiquette or protocol'; it is among the significant structural safeguards of the constitutional scheme." Edmond, 520 U.S. at 659 (quoting Buckley, 424 U.S. at 124 (emphasis added)); see Buckley, 424 U.S. at 132 (referring to the Appointments Clause as setting forth "well-established constitutional restrictions stemming from the separation of powers”). Indeed, it is rooted in the separation of powers fundamental to our system of government and to the limitations built into that structure—all of which aim to prevent one branch from 14

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 15 of 93 aggrandizing itself at the expense of another. Freytag, 501 U.S. at 878 ("The roots of the separation-of-powers concept embedded in the Appointments Clause are structural and political. Our separation-of-powers jurisprudence generally focuses on the danger of one branch's aggrandizing its power at the expense of another branch."). The Appointments Clause also preserves "the Constitution's structural integrity by preventing the diffusion of the appointment power" and thus enhancing democratic accountability. Id. at 878; id. at 884-86 (explaining that the Appointments Clause protects democratic accountability by limiting “the distribution of the appointment power” to “ensure that those who wielded it were accountable to political force and the will of the people"); Ryder v. United States, 515 U.S. 177, 182 (1995). Turning to the Excepting Clause more specifically, the Appointments Clause requires that any Congressional decision to vest inferior-officer appointment power must be made by “Law”— meaning statutory law, as all parties rightly agree [ECF Nos. 326 pp. 4–5; ECF No. 374 pp. 3–4]. Art. II, § 2 cl. 2. This “Law,” it bears noting, is a means by which Congress, in the words of the Clause, can express its determination of whether it is “proper” to vest such appointment power in one of the three circumscribed repositories. Id. (providing that "Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments") (emphasis added). Congress thus retains a critical role in determining which offices to create and whom to vest with inferior-officer appointment power. And that role cannot be usurped or minimized, for doing so would “breach .. . the national fundamental law”” of separation of powers and violate the principle that “[a]ll Legislative power. . . shall be vested in . . . Congress." Buckley, 424 U.S. at 122 (quoting Hampton & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394 (1928)); see Art. I, § 1 ("All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of 15

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 16 of 93 Representatives."). 15 Put another way, there can be no expansion of the vesting power beyond what is permitted in the Clause, and there can be no usurpation of the appointment power “by indirection.” Buckley, 424 U.S. at 135–36; Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52, 164 (1926) (stating that the Excepting Clause must be “strictly construed” and not “extended by implication"). Pausing for a moment to distill the key principles so far, the following points stand out: The Appointments Clause reflects a carefully crafted system, rooted in the separation of powers, by which the Executive and Legislative branches jointly participate in appointments, exerting limitations upon each other, ensuring “public accountability," and "curb[ing] Executive abuses." Edmond, 520 U.S. at 659. Congress retains a pivotal role in the appointment sphere, a role that cannot be usurped or expanded. Freytag, 501 U.S. at 878. The Appointments Clause imposes a mandatory and exclusive procedure that must be enforced according to its plain meaning, without exception. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 127, 132, 138-39 (rejecting effort to read Appointments Clause “contrary to its plain language" and insisting upon strict compliance with the Clause); Myers, 272 U.S. at 164 (stating that the Appointments Clause must be "strictly construed" and not "extended by implication"). There is an additional background legal topic, and it concerns the degree of clarity with which Congress must speak when expressing its intent to “vest” inferior-officer appointment power. In other words, should courts apply a "clear statement rule" in this context? The Meese amicus brief urges application of such a rule, arguing that requiring Congress to speak clearly before determining that a statute permits deviation from the default appointment method is warranted to preserve the structural separation-of-powers foundation and federalism features upon which the Appointments Clause is built [ECF No. 364-1 pp. 19–20 (advocating for clear-statement 15 See also Lucia, 585 U.S. at 263–64 (Breyer, J., concurring) (“The use of the words 'by Law' to describe the establishment and means of appointment of ‘Officers of the United States,' together with the fact that Article I of the Constitution vests the legislative power in Congress, suggests that (other than the officers the Constitution specifically lists) Congress, not the Judicial Branch alone, must play a major role in determining who is an ‘Office[r] of the United States.' And Congress' intent in this specific respect is often highly relevant."). 16

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 17 of 93 rule but defending position on the basis of ordinary statutory interpretation too)]. See Steven G. Calabresi & Gary Lawson, Why Robert Mueller's Appointment As Special Counsel Was Unlawful, 95 Notre Dame L. Rev. 87, 115-16 (2019). Trump appears to agree with these arguments, although not explicitly in "clear statement” terms. And Special Counsel Smith seems to reject imposition of any rule of construction or presumption [ECF No. 374 pp. 11–14; see ECF No. 647 pp. 87-88]. Without purporting to survey the Supreme Court's "clear statement” jurisprudence, it is enough to say that clear statement rules have been applied as substantive canons of construction in various contexts to protect foundational constitutional guarantees, and usually to solve questions of ambiguity in statutory interpretation. See Amy Coney Barrett, Substantive Canons and Faithful Agency, 90 B.U. L. Rev. 109, 168 (2010); W. Virginia v. Env't Prot. Agency, 597 U.S. 697, 735– 36 (2022) (Gorsuch, J., concurring). 16 Clear statement rules do not require Congress to "use magic words” or to “state its intent in any particular way,” but they do require Congress to speak clearly― not merely "plausibly"—as discerned through traditional tools of statutory construction. MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC, 598 U.S. 288, 298 (2023)); Spector v. Norwegian 16 These include attempted waivers of federal and state sovereign immunity, Fin. Oversight & Mgmt. Bd. for Puerto Rico v. Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Inc., 598 U.S. 339, 346 (2023), Dep't of Agric. Rural Dev. Rural Hous. Serv. v. Kirtz, 601 U.S. 42, 48 (2024), Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Fla., 517 U.S. 44, 55 (1996); efforts to impose retroactive liability, Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 265–66 (1994); attempts to grant agencies powers of "vast economic and political significance," Alabama Ass'n of Realtors v. Dep't of Health & Hum. Servs., 594 U.S. 758, 764 (2021); federal preemption of state law and federal efforts to regulate areas of traditional state responsibility, Bond v. United States, 572 U.S. 844, 859 (2014), Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League, 541 U.S. 125, 128 (2004), BFP v. Resolution Trust Corporation, 511 U.S. 531, 544 (1994); jurisdictional time bars affecting a court's adjudicatory capacity, Wilkins v. United States, 598 U.S. 152, 159 (2023); Boechler, P.C. v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue, 596 U.S. 199, 206 (2022); and in cases that could be described as implicating the balance between the federal branches, Kucana v. Holder, 558 U.S. 233, 237 (2010); I.N.S. v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289, 298 (2001); Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 246–47. 17

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 18 of 93 Cruise Line Ltd., 545 U.S. 119, 139 (2005) (plurality opinion). When a clear statement rule does apply, it can mean that a court chooses a lesser, though still tenable, interpretation of a statute as a means to protect significant constitutional values. Biden v. Nebraska, 143 S. Ct. 2355, 2378 (2023) (Barrett, J., concurring) (noting that “the hallmark of a true clear-statement rule" is where a court "purports to depart from the best interpretation of the text"). There are reasons to believe that application of a clear statement rule would apply to the interpretation of statutes affecting the separation-of-powers balance animating the Appointments Clause. Clear statement rules, as noted, generally apply "when a statute implicates historically or constitutionally grounded norms that we would not expect Congress to unsettle lightly." Jones v. Hendrix, 599 U.S. 465, 492 (2023). And separation of powers norms ring strong here, where the Special Counsel's proffered statutory interpretations would displace the Senate from its ordinary and longstanding role of confirming United States Attorneys and give to the Executive seemingly unchecked power to create offices for outside prosecutors beyond the scheme designed in Title 28 of the United States Code. Additionally, there are indications in the language of the Appointments Clause itself specifically, its repeated reference to "Law” and to Congress's determination of what it “think[s] proper” for vesting purposes—that support requiring Congress to make its intent known with discernable clarity. Article II, § 2, cl. 2. And then there are cases specifically in the Appointments Clause context-principally Edmond and Weiss, discussed later-where the Supreme Court has insisted upon textual clarity when faced with more ambiguous language.17 17 Edmond, 520 U.S. at 656-58 (recognizing clear statute granting appointment power and declining to find appointment power in a separate statute lacking similarly clear language); Weiss, 510 U.S. at 757 (recognizing that Congress knows how to speak clearly in the appointment context and then, on the basis of that Congressional know-how, declining to find appointment power in statutes that lacked sufficient precision); Germaine, 99 U.S. at 509-10; Lucia, 585 U.S. at 257 (Breyer, J., concurring) (agreeing with majority that Commission did not properly appoint ALJs 18

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 19 of 93 In any case, despite the appeal of applying a clear statement rule in this constitutional setting, the Court finds it unnecessary to do so and would reach the same conclusion in this Order regardless. Neither party presses hard for or against such a rule; the Supreme Court has not expressly addressed whether a clear statement rule applies in the context of the Appointments Clause; and in any case, the Court is satisfied that standard tools of statutory interpretation suffice to discern whether the "Law" at issue, 28 U.S.C. § 515, 533, evinces a Congressional intent to "vest the Appointment” of inferior Officers in the Attorney General as the Special Counsel suggests. Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243, 274 (2006) (finding resort to clear statement rule unnecessary because the text and structure of the statute at issue showed that Congress did not intend a substantial alteration in federal-state relations). II. Statutory Structure of Justice Department and Attorney General's Appointment Authority Before delving into the particular statutes cited in the Appointment Order, the Court surveys the statutory structure of the Department of Justice, focusing on provisions that authorize the Attorney General to appoint officers and/or employees, and also noting Congress's displayed legislative agility in prescribing appointment methods within that structure. Some of this material features later in this Order, but the Court deems it helpful to provide initial structural context for the discussion to follow. Title 28 of the United States Code governs the Department of Justice, an executive department of the United States, 28 U.S.C. § 501, and it contains various structural chapters. For present purposes, the most important are Chapter 31 for the Attorney General, 28 U.S.C. § 501- 530D; Chapter 33 for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 28 U.S.C. §§ 531–540d; and Chapter and then observing that "no other statutory provision . . . would permit the Commission to delegate the power to appoint its administrate law judges to its staff"). 19

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 20 of 93 35 for United States Attorneys, 28 U.S.C. §§ 541-550. Title 28 also includes chapters for the United States Marshals Service, 28 U.S.C. §§ 561-569; United States Trustees, 28 U.S.C. §§ 581- 589b; the now-expired Independent Counsel, 28 U.S.C. §§ 591–599; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 28 U.S.C. § 599a-599b. In Chapter 31, Congress requires the President to "appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Attorney General of the United States" to serve as "head of the Department of Justice." Id. § 503. Congress then provides for the Presidential appointment of various officers within the Department, all expressly "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." Id. §§ 504, 504a, 505, 506. These include a Deputy Attorney General, id. § 504; an Associate Attorney General, id. § 504a; a Solicitor General, id. § 505; and eleven Assistant Attorneys General, id. § 506; see also § 507. In each of these statutes, Congress employs statutory language fully tracking the default manner of appointing principal officers in the Appointments Clause. By contrast, in a separate section of the same chapter, Congress permits the Attorney General to appoint an Assistant Attorney General for Administration, a non-officer employee whom Congress expressly places in the competitive service. Id. § 507. Chapter 33 governs the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI is headed by a director appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of ten years, who is paid under the Federal Executive Salary Schedule. P. L. 90-351, Title VI, § 1101, 82 Stat. 236 (1968).18 Chapter 33 also authorizes the Attorney General, within his control of the FBI, and as discussed later in connection with 28 U.S.C. § 533, to "appoint officials” to "detect and prosecute crimes against the United States," to "assist in the protection" of the 18 Prior to 1976, Congress authorized the Attorney General to appoint the FBI director, but then it switched course to the default appointment method. 28 U.S.C. § 532; see Oct. 15, 1976, P. L. 94- 503, Title II, § 203, 90 Stat. 2427. 20 20

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 21 of 93 President and the Attorney General, and to conduct investigations "regarding official matters under the control" of the Departments of Justice and State. 28 U.S.C. § 533. Chapter 35 relates to United States Attorneys, and it directs the President, in mandatory terms, to "appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a United States attorney for each judicial district”—further specifying that such United States attorneys “shall be appointed for a term of four years" and shall be “subject to removal by the President." 28 U.S.C. § 541. It is undisputed, and correct, that all United States Attorneys (93 currently) have been appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate throughout our Nation's history, except that Congress has permitted the Attorney General to appoint interim United States Attorneys with specific restrictions. 28 U.S.C. § 546 (limiting duration of terms and prohibiting Attorney General from appointing an interim United States Attorney "whose appointment by the President to that office the Senate refused to give advice and consent"). It also bears noting, in the context of the Attorney General's appointment authority, that 28 U.S.C. § 543 (within Chapter 35 for United States Attorneys) allows the Attorney General to "appoint attorneys to assist United States attorneys when the public interest so requires, including the appointment of tribal prosecutors," further indicating that such special attorneys are “subject to removal by the Attorney General.” 28 U.S.C. § 543(a) (b). As discussed further infra, Special Counsel Smith does not rely on 28 U.S.C. § 543 to provide authority for his appointment, and he disavows any notion that he is "assisting" a United States attorney. 19 19 Chapter 37 addresses the United States Marshals Service and provides for a Director of the Service who is "appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," 28 U.S.C. § 561, along with individual United States marshals in each judicial district, all of whom also are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Id. Chapter 39 is designated for United States Trustees, who are appointed by the Attorney General for various specified judicial districts, and who are "subject to removal by the Attorney General.” 28 U.S.C. § 581. Chapter 40A establishes “the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives [ATF],” which is 21

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 22 of 93 There is one last piece in the United States Code in which the Attorney General is given appointment authority, and it is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 4041. That section, located within the Prisons and Prisoner Part of Title 18, and passed in 1948, authorizes the Attorney General to appoint the director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) who serves “directly under the Attorney General," and then also permits the Attorney General to “appoint such additional officers and employees as he deems necessary.” 18 U.S.C. § 4041. There are no other provisions in the United States Code of which the Court is aware that permit the Attorney General to appoint “officers" or employees. III. Analysis of Statutes Cited in Appointment Order The Court now proceeds to evaluate the four statutes cited by the Special Counsel as purported authorization for his appointment-28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533. The Court concludes that none vests the Attorney General with authority to appoint a Special Counsel like Smith, who does not assist a United States Attorney but who replaces the role of United States Attorney within his jurisdiction. In considering each of these four provisions, the Court “begins where all such inquiries begin: with the language of the statute itself." United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241 (1989). This requires the Court to interpret statutory language according to its ordinary meaning, and to read it within the specific context in which it appears and within the broader context of the statute as a whole. See, e.g., Sw. Airlines Co. v. Saxon, 596 U.S. 450, 455 (2022); King v. St. Vincent's Hosp., 502 U.S. 215, 221 (1991) (noting “the cardinal rule that a statute is to be read as a whole, since the meaning of statutory language, plain or not, depends on headed by a Director who “shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." 28 U.S.C. § 599A(a)(1)–(2). 22 22

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 23 of 93 context" (internal citation omitted)); Regions Bank v. Legal Outsource PA, 936 F.3d 1184, 1192 (11th Cir. 2019) (“The whole-text canon refers to the principle that a judicial interpreter should consider the entire text, in view of its structure and of the physical and logical relation of its many parts, when interpreting any particular part of the text.” (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted)). A. 28 U.S.C. § 509 The first statute cited in the Appointment Order is 28 U.S.C. § 509, a generic provision vesting DOJ's functions in the Attorney General. It is titled "Functions of the Attorney General," and it provides, in full, as follows: All functions of other officers of the Department of Justice and all functions of agencies and employees of the Department of Justice are vested in the Attorney General except the functions- (1) vested by subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5 in administrative law judges employed by the Department of Justice; (2) of the Federal Prison Industries, Inc.; and (3) of the Board of Directors and officers of the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. 28 U.S.C. § 509. Special Counsel Smith neither argues that Section 509 establishes an office, nor that it grants officer-appointing power to the Attorney General. Indeed, it does neither of these. It is a general statute simply declaring that the Attorney General is imbued with all functions of the Department and its agencies except in the limited instances of administrative law judges and private federal prisons. No more discussion about Section 509 is necessary. 23

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 24 of 93 B. 28 U.S.C. § 510 The second statute cited in the Appointment Order is 28 U.S.C. § 510, a general provision allowing the Attorney General to delegate his functions to officers, employees, and agencies of DOJ. The full text of Section 510, titled “Delegation of authority,” provides as follows: The Attorney General may from time to time make such provisions as he considers appropriate authorizing the performance by any other officer, employee, or agency of the Department of Justice of any function of the Attorney General. 28 U.S.C. § 510 (emphasis added). Special Counsel Smith does not classify or rely on Section 510 as an officer-appointing or office-creating statute, nor is it. Using similarly general phrasing as Section 509, Section 510 merely gives the Attorney General flexibility to authorize existing DOJ officers, employees, or agencies to perform the functions of the Attorney General, consistent with the nature of those functions. See Calabresi & Lawson, supra at 107 (noting the authority granted in Section 510 to delegate "delegable functions" (emphasis in original)). Special Counsel Smith, as all agree, and as required by the extant Special Counsel Regulations, was “selected from outside the United States Government." 28 C.F.R. § 600.3(a). No more discussion about Section 510 is necessary. C. 28 U.S.C. § 515 The third statute cited in the Appointment Order is 28 U.S.C. § 515, titled "Authority for legal proceedings; commission, oath, and salary for special attorneys." 28 U.S.C. § 515. It contains two subsections, quoted fully below: (a) The Attorney General or any other officer of the Department of Justice, or any attorney specially appointed by the Attorney General under law, may, when specifically directed by the Attorney General, conduct any kind of legal proceeding, civil or criminal, including grand jury proceedings and proceedings before committing magistrate judges, which United States attorneys are authorized by law to conduct, whether or not he is a resident of the district in which the proceeding is brought. 24 24

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 25 of 93 (b) Each attorney specially retained under authority of the Department of Justice shall be commissioned as special assistant to the Attorney General or special attorney, and shall take the oath required by law. Foreign counsel employed in special cases are not required to take the oath. The Attorney General shall fix the annual salary of a special assistant or special attorney. 28 U.S.C. § 515. Although Special Counsel Smith relies primarily on Section 515(b), the Court analyzes each subsection in turn. i. Section 515(a) Section 515(a) does not authorize the creation of any office and does not authorize the Attorney General to appoint anyone. Nor does the Special Counsel meaningfully argue that it does. As its text indicates, Section 515(a) simply declares that the Attorney General, any "officer of the Department of Justice," or any "attorney specially appointed by the Attorney General under law" referring to previously existing special attorneys appointed under statutory law—are authorized to conduct legal proceedings "which United States attorneys are authorized by law to conduct," regardless of whether the litigating officer or special attorney resides in the district in which the proceeding is brought. 28 U.S.C. § 515(a). 20 This is a provision conferring territorial flexibility to the Attorney General; it permits the Attorney General to use DOJ officers and previously appointed special attorneys to litigate on behalf of the United States, regardless of residency. No more can be inferred from the text of Section 515(a), and again, Special Counsel Smith does not meaningfully rely on it as a source of officer-appointing power. 20 To the extent Special Counsel Smith insinuates that “under law” in Section 515(a) does not require what it plainly says that special attorneys must be appointed by the Attorney General under statutory law [ECF No. 374 p. 12]—no basis is provided for that atextual suggestion. Trump, 2024 WL 3237603, at *27 (Thomas, J., concurring). The phrases “under law" in Section 515(a) and "under authority of the Department of Justice" in Section 515(b) plainly refer to statutory law outside of Section 515. Any other reading would render these phrases surplusage. See Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d 598, 621 (D.D.C. 2018) (citing TRW Inc. v. Andrews, 534 U.S. 19, 31 (2001)). 25

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 26 of 93 ii. Section 515(b) The Court thus shifts to Section 515(b), where the Special Counsel devotes more attention. According to the Special Counsel, Section 515(b) “gives the Attorney General authority to appoint ‘special attorneys' like the Special Counsel" [ECF No. 374 p. 11]. This is so, he contends, because (1) "[s]pecially retained under authority of the Department of Justice' necessarily means specially retained by the Attorney General, who is head of the Department of Justice and vested with all of its functions and powers" [ECF No. 374 p. 11 (emphasis in original, quoting 28 U.S.C. § 515(b))]; (2) the terms “commissioned” and “specially retained” in the statute effectively mean “appoint” [ECF No. 374 pp. 11–12; see ECF No. 647 pp. 62-63]; and (3) the history of Section 515(b) “confirms that it provides appointment power” [ECF No. 374 p. 14; see, e.g., ECF No. 647 p. 56]. These arguments cannot be squared with the statutory text, context, or history. a. Ordinary Meaning Section 515(b), read plainly, is a logistics-oriented statute that gives technical and procedural content to the position of already-"retained" "special attorneys” or “special assistants" within DOJ. It specifies that those attorneys-again already retained in the past sense-shall be "commissioned," that is, designated, or entrusted/tasked, to assist in litigation (more on "commissioned" below). Section 515(b) then provides that those already-retained special attorneys or special assistants (if not foreign counsel) must take an oath; and then it directs the Attorney General to fix their annual salary. Nowhere in this sequence does Section 515(b) give the Attorney General independent power to appoint officers like Special Counsel Smith—or anyone else, for that matter. 26

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 27 of 93 This understanding of Section 515(b) as a descriptive statute about already-retained attorneys―rather than as a source of new appointment power—is confirmed by additional textual features within the provision itself. First, as the district court in Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, observed in evaluating a similar challenge, and as alluded to above, the statute uses the past participle tense of the word retain. 317 F. Supp. 3d at 621. Congress's use of a verb tense can be significant in evaluating statutes. See, e.g., Carr v. United States, 560 U.S. 438, 448 (2010) (describing that "varied” verb tenses communicate different meanings). And that is so here, where the text of Section 515(b) plainly does not announce or give anyone the active power to "retain" anyone afresh but simply notes specific requirements or features about attorneys already "specially retained" in the past "under the authority of the Department of Justice.” Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 621 (observing that regardless of whether Section 515(b) refers to past or present conditions, it "does not appear to convey the power to bring those conditions about”). Second, absent from Section 515(b) is any reference to the verb “appoint," an active verb used in the Appointments Clause itself. Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. To justify that void, the Special Counsel says the Court should read the terms “specially retained” and “commissioned" in Section 515(b) as the functional equivalent of “appoint.” The Court declines to engage in such linguistic distortion, nor is it aware of any vesting statute that uses those verbs as replacements for the verb "appoint." For starters, the term “appoint," on the one hand, and the terms “retain” or “commission,” on the other, are not invariably interchangeable. See In re Walter Energy, Inc., 911 F.3d 1211, 1143 (11th Cir. 2018) ("When a statute does not define a term, we often look to dictionary definitions for guidance."). Definitions of the verb "appoint" describe the filling of a more enduring and often formal or official role or office. Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1951) 27

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 28 of 93 (defining "appoint" as "[t]o designate, ordain, prescribe, nominate,” and explaining that "appoint' is used where exclusive power and authority is given to one person, officer, or body to name person to hold certain offices"); see Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed. 2003) (“to name officially"); Oxford American Dictionary (3d ed. 2010) ("assign a job or role (to someone)"). This differs from definitions of “retain” and “commission," which often connote a narrower, mission- or task-specific hiring or charge. Retain, Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961) ("to keep in pay or in one's services" or "to employ (a lawyer) by paying a preliminary fee that secures a prior claim upon services in case of need"); commission, id. ("to endow with effective right or power" or "to appoint to a certain task, mission, function, or duty”); retain, Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1951) (“[t]o continue to hold, have, use, recognize, etc., and to keep," and "[t]o engage the services of an attorney or counsellor to manage a cause”). 21 In any case, even accepting some degree of overlap among some of these definitions, it remains the case that the Supreme Court has been apprehensive to accept other statutory terms as stand-ins for the word "appoint” in the Appointments Clause context, recognizing that Congress consistently uses the word "appoint" rather than “terms not found within the Appointments Clause." See Edmond, 520 U.S. at 657-58 (holding that statute's use of "assign" did not vest 21 Many definitions of the transitive verb “commission” merely invoke the noun form of the word, "commission." E.g., Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1969) (defining the verb "commission" as “to furnish with a commission"); Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961) (similar). Notably, though, definitions of the noun “commission" convey the same task- specific as opposed to role-oriented-meaning as the verb. See Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1969) (defining noun “commission” as “a formal written warrant granting the power to perform various acts or duties” or “an authorization or command to act in a prescribed manner or to perform prescribed acts"); Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961) (defining noun "commission” as “a formal written warrant or authority granting certain powers or privileges and authorizing or commanding the performance of certain acts or duties,” referencing "an order to perform a particular task or carry out a work"). 28

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 29 of 93 officer-appointing authority); Weiss, 510 U.S. at 171–72.22 Moreover-for the same verb-tense reasons as stated above-whatever possible linguistic overlap might exist between the present- tense formulations of the verbs "appoint," "retain,” or “commission," Section 515(b) does not use them in that format, using instead the past participle adjective application. All of this yields the following in terms of ordinary meaning for the terms “specially retained" and "commissioned as ... special attorney” in Section 515(b): (1) “retained” essentially means employed or hired; (2) "commissioned” means designated, classified, or tasked in a role; and (3) together those phrases transmit the fairly mundane, descriptive point that already-hired attorneys within the Department shall be classified as special assistants or special attorneys and shall take an oath and have a fixed salary. That is all that fairly can be extracted from Section 515(b). There is no granting of appointment power in this language. Nor, as the Special Counsel suggests, does the historical pedigree of Presidential "commissions" dating back to Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803), transform the adjective phrase "shall be commissioned... as special attorney" into an implicit grant of officer- appointment power for the Attorney General [ECF No. 374 p. 11]. True, as Marbury informs, the "last act to be done by the President" in making an appointment for a constitutional officer is "the signature of the commission," thus demonstrating his action “on the advice and consent of the senate to his own nomination.” Id. at 157 (emphasis added); see Art II, § 2, cl. 3 (Recess Appointment Clause). But nothing in the language of Section 515(b) speaks in terms of a traditional Presidential appointment with Senate confirmation followed by the signing of an 22 This is not to suggest, of course, that an appointment statute has to use "magic words" lest it fail the "appointment test." See Lucia, 585 U.S. at 264 (Breyer, J., concurring). But, as noted, the Supreme Court has demonstrated a preference for language that tracks the constitutional text, see Edmond, 520 U.S. at 657-58; Weiss, 510 U.S. at 171–72; Germaine, 99 U.S. at 510, and so has Congress, see supra pp. 47-50. 29 29

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 30 of 93 officer-level commission, as was the case in Marbury. Far from it, for all of the reasons already stated. Simply put, whatever historical relevance there is to take from the fact that Presidents— not Attorneys General—sign commissions for constitutional officers, it does nothing to alter the ordinary meaning of Section 515(b). b. Statutory Context The broader statutory context of Title 28—and the use of the term "special attorney" within that context, in particular, in Section 543—also refutes the Special Counsel's untenable reading of Section 515(b). It is an axiom of statutory interpretation that “identical words used in different parts of the same act are intended to have the same meaning."" See, e.g., Gustafson v. Alloyd Co., 513 U.S. 561, 570 (1995) (citing Dep't of Revenue of Oregon v. ACF Indus., Inc., 510 U.S. 332, 342 (1994)); Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr, 589 U.S. 221, 231 (2020) (consistent usage canon); Deal v. United States, 508 U.S. 129, 132 (1993) (noting that it is a “fundamental principle of statutory construction (and, indeed, of language itself) that the meaning of a word cannot be determined in isolation, but must be drawn from the context in which it is used."). It is also well settled that statutory provisions should be interpreted harmoniously, not in contradictory fashion, after considering the whole statutory scheme and context holistically. United Sav. Ass'n of Tex. v. Timbers of Inwood Forest Assocs., Ltd., 484 U.S. 365, 371 (1988); Panama Ref. Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388, 439 (1935) (Cardozo, J., dissenting). These guideposts matter much here. Section 515 was enacted in 1966 as part of a wide-scale government reorganization act across the Executive branch. Act of Sept. 6, 1966, Pub. L. No. 89-554, 80 Stat. 378. See infra pp. 34–36 (discussing predecessor statutory history of Section 515). As relevant to Title 28, that legislation contained two other explicit references to "special attorneys" in the Department, both of which remain in force today: Section 543 and 519. Id. §§ 515, 519, 543, 80 Stat. 378, 611–618. 30 30

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 31 of 93 Section 543-titled "Special attorneys”—gives the Attorney General authority to "appoint attorneys to assist United States attorneys when the public interest so requires." 28 U.S.C. § 543. And then Section 519 directs the Attorney General to supervise all litigation involving the United States or its officers by specifically providing that he “shall direct all United States attorneys, assistant United States attorneys, and special attorneys appointed under section 543 of this title in the discharge of their duties." 28 U.S.C. § 519 (emphasis added). The term “special attorney” thus has a known meaning in Title 28 that coincides harmoniously with the broader statutory context. That meaning, per Section 543, consists of attorneys appointed by the Attorney General to assist United States Attorneys a role Special Counsel Smith expressly disclaims [ECF No. 647 pp. 57-58]. This leaves Special Counsel Smith to offer a highly strained reading of “special attorney” in Section 515(b), which is that the term used in that provision somehow denotes a different category of “special attorney" than what Congress specifically created in Section 543 and then referenced again in Section 519-—all within the same public law [see ECF No. 647 pp. 57–58]. Neither the statutory text of Section 515 nor its statutory context gives any reason to believe such discordancy matches congressional intent. United States v. Castleman, 134 S. Ct. 1405, 1417 (2014) (“[T]he presumption of consistent usage [is] the rule of thumb that a term generally means the same thing each time it is used [and] most commonly applie[s] to terms appearing in the same enactment.") (Scalia, J., concurring) (emphasis added). Nor is there any basis to believe that Congress, when it expressly designated the categories of attorneys within the Department whose duties the Attorney General must direct somehow omitted a separate fourth category of United States Attorney-like special counsels nowhere created 31

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 32 of 93 in the 1966 Act. If Congress intended “special attorney” to mean something different in Section 515(b) than in Section 543, it could have used different language, but it did not. 23 Zooming out beyond Sections 543 and 519 as contextual counterpoints, Congress repeatedly has demonstrated its ability to imbue the Attorney General with appointment power over officers and employees-yet Section 515 looks nothing like those examples. In Section 546(a), for instance, codified in the same enactment as Section 515, Congress authorized the Attorney General to “appoint an [interim] United States attorney for the district in which the office of United States attorney is vacant." Id. § 546(a). Likewise, in 18 U.S.C. § 4041, Congress permitted the Attorney General to "appoint such additional officers and employees as he deems necessary [within BOP].” 18 U.S.C. § 4041. And in Section 542(a), Congress authorized the Attorney General to "appoint one or more assistant United States attorneys." 28 U.S.C. § 542(a). Even more, Congress has shown its facility in vesting appointment power in Heads of Departments across the Executive Branch, ranging from the Secretary of Education, to Agriculture, to Transportation, and to Health and Human Services. See 7 U.S.C. § 610(a) (“The Secretary of Agriculture may appoint such officers and employees. ..."); 18 U.S.C. § 4041 (“The Attorney General may appoint such additional officers and employees as he deems necessary."); 49 U.S.C. § 323(a) ("The Secretary of Transportation may appoint and fix the pay of officers and employees of the Department of Transportation and may prescribe their duties and powers."); 20 U.S.C. § 3461(a) ("The Secretary is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of such officers and employees, including attorneys, as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Secretary and the Department."); 42 U.S.C. § 913 (The Secretary [of Health and Human Services] is 23 It is true that Section 519 contains a cross-reference to Section 543 whereas Section 515(b) does not, but that technical omission in a numerical cross-reference simply cannot overcome the presumption of consistent usage of "special attorney" in the same enactment. 32

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 33 of 93 authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of such officers and employees. . . ."). None of those examples bears any resemblance to Section 515, and notably, all of the examples use the present tense, unlike Section 515. See Carr, 560 U.S. at 449–451. The Special Counsel has no response to this clear pattern of congressional appointment language, presumably on the general theory that Congress can avail itself of different legislative phrasing as it pleases [ECF No. 374]. But statutory context cannot be discounted, nor can clear statutory patterns be ignored. Simply put, the Special Counsel's strained inferences about Section 515 do not make sense when viewed against the backdrop of Congress's clear and consistent ability to legislate in the appointments arena. c. History: Section 515's predecessor statutes, and the historical use of special-counsel-like figures. Finding little support in the plain language of Section 515(b), the Special Counsel makes a series of unconvincing historical arguments that fail upon close scrutiny [ECF No. 374 p. 14 ("The history of Section 515 removes any question that it authorizes the Attorney General to appoint special attorneys such as the Special Counsel.")]. The relevant history, according to Special Counsel Smith, shows that Congress tacitly authorized- -or silently acquiesced to the use of Section 515 (or its predecessor statutes) to appoint “special attorneys" like himself [ECF No. 374 pp. 14–16; see ECF No. 647 pp. 58-62]. Upon review of the murky historical record, the Court determines that, whatever themes can be drawn from that background, they cannot supplant the plain language of the statute itself, which clearly does not vest the Attorney General with such authority. See In re BFW Liquidation, LLC, 899 F.3d 1178, 1189–90 (11th Cir. 2018). The Special Counsel's historical argument breaks into two parts: (1) Section 515's statutory history going back to 1870, and (2) the historical use of “special attorney”-like figures throughout American history. 33 33

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 34 of 93 i. Statutory History The currently codified version of Section 515(b) can be traced back to the establishment of the Department of Justice in 1870. See An Act to Establish the Department of Justice, ch. 150, 16 Stat. 162, 164–65 (1870) (hereinafter, the "DOJ Act"). The relevant portion of that Act is provided below: And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for the Secretary of either of the executive Departments to employ attorneys or counsel at the expense of the United States; but such Departments, when in need of counsel or advice, shall call upon the Department of Justice, the officers of which shall attend to the same; and no counsel or attorney fees shall hereafter be allowed to any person or persons, besides the respective district attorneys and assistant district attorneys, for services in such capacity to the United States, or any branch or department of the government thereof, unless hereafter authorized by law, and then only on the certificate of the Attorney-General that such services were actually rendered, and that the same could not be performed by the Attorney-General, or solicitor-general, or the officers of the department of justice, or by the district attorneys. And every attorney and counselor who shall be specially retained, under the authority of the Department of Justice, to assist in the trial of any case in which the government is interested, shall receive a commission from the head of said Department, as a special assistant to the Attorney General, or to some one of the district attorneys, as the nature of the appointment may require, and shall take the oath required by law to be taken by the district attorneys, and shall be subject to all the liabilities imposed upon such officers by law. Id. at § 17. The latter portion of this section, which largely mirrors the text of the current statute, provides no new insights as to the meaning of Section 515 and contains no indication that any of the “specially retained” attorneys “authorized by law” to be hired do anything other than assist the Attorney General in a non-officer capacity. Put another way, nothing in this language shows Congress's intent that “special assistants”—personnel authorized to "assist in the trial of any case in which the government is interested"—would function with the power of a United States Attorney. 34 =4

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 35 of 93 24 Subsequent enactments do not dictate otherwise. In 1930, Congress added the term "special attorney." Pub. L. No. 71-133, ch. 174, 46 Stat. 170.24 And in 1948, Congress made some non-substantive changes to simplify the provision's wording. Pub. L. No. 80-773, ch. 646, § 62 Stat. 869, 985-86. Again, and mindful that "changes in statutory language generally indicate an intent to change the meaning of the statute," Edwards v. Prime, Inc., 602 F.3d 1276, 1299 (11th Cir. 2010) (citation omitted), these revisions do not indicate that Congress (1) intended the DOJ Act to authorize the appointment of private citizens; or (2) envisioned "special attorneys" as possessing the power or autonomy of contemporary special counsels. Put simply, these amendments offer nothing new from a textual-analysis standpoint. 25 Nevertheless, as Special Counsel Smith sees it, these amendments—and Congress's failure to object to the use of special attorneys in the intervening years—suggest that Congress "ratified" the Executive branch's use of Section 515 for this purpose [ECF No. 647 pp. 58–62; see ECF No. 374 pp. 15-16 ("Despite widespread use of special counsels before these enactments. . . Congress never questioned the Attorney General's power of appointment.")]. For the reasons that follow, 24 Although resort to legislative history is unnecessary and generally ill advised, the Court notes that a House Report accompanying the 1930 amendment suggests that the addition of the phrase "special attorney”—to accompany the already-present “special assistant”—did not effectuate a substantive change to the DOJ Act: "The bill does not provide authority for any new appointments but merely permits commissions to issue to attorneys as special attorneys in those cases where the Attorney General feels that it is undesirable to use the title of 'special assistant to the Attorney General." H.R. Rep. No. 71-229 (1930). As far as the Court can tell, the terms “special assistant" and “special attorney” in Section 515 have the same functional meaning except, potentially, in who they assist special assistants assisting the Attorney General; special attorneys assisting United States Attorneys, see 28 U.S.C. § 543—but any technical daylight between those non- officer employees has not been explored in caselaw. 25 Special Counsel Smith also describes the statutory history leading to Section 515(a) [ECF No. 374 p. 15]. Even if the Court were to accept the inferences drawn by Special Counsel Smith on this point, Section 515(a)'s predecessor statutes-much like the now-codified provision-have nothing to do with appointment power. 35

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 36 of 93 the Court declines to interpret Congress's silence on the intermittent, historical use of "special attorneys” as tantamount to acquiescence here. “Legislative silence is a poor beacon to follow in discerning the proper statutory route." Zuber v. Allen, 396 U.S. 168, 185 (1969); id. at n.21 (explaining that "[t]he verdict of quiescent years cannot be invoked to baptize a statutory gloss that is otherwise impermissible"); cf. Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715, 749-52 (2006) (discussing the limited utility of "congressional acquiescence"); Regions Bank, 936 F.3d at 1196 (same); United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc., 474 U.S. 121, 137 (1985) (“[W]e are chary of attributing significance to Congress' failure to act ."); Bob Jones Univ. v. United ... States, 461 U.S. 574, 600 (1983) ("Nonaction by Congress is not often a useful guide . . . ."). ii. Historical Practice Special Counsel Smith argues that the use of special attorneys throughout American history "amply confirms the Attorney General's authority to appoint the Special Counsel here" [ECF No. 374 p. 16]. The Court disagrees. At most, the history reflects an ad hoc, inconsistent practice of naming prosecutors from both inside and outside of government (typically in response to national scandal) who possessed wildly variant degrees of power and autonomy. The lack of consistency makes it near impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions about Congress's approval of modern special counsels like Special Counsel Smith—much less its acquiescence to Section 515 as a vehicle for such appointments. Special Counsel Smith's broad historical argument proceeds from two mistaken premises. The first is rooted in the notion that “past Attorneys General have ‘made extensive use of special attorneys" by "drawing on the authority to retain counsel originally conferred in 1870” [ECF No. 374 p. 16 (quoting In re Persico, 522 F.2d 41, 45–46 (2d Cir. 1975))]. This incorrectly assumes that “special attorneys” have consistently been appointed pursuant to Section 515 or one of its 36

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 37 of 93 predecessor statutes [ECF No. 374 p. 16]. But a review of historical appointments shows a far spottier picture. Some “special attorneys" were appointed by regulation. E.g., 38 Fed. Reg. 30,739, amended by 38 Fed. Reg. 32,805 (appointing Leon Jaworski to investigate and prosecute the Watergate scandal). 26 Some were appointed by statute. E.g., ch. 16, 43 Stat. 6 (1924) (directing President Coolidge to appoint, with Senate confirmation, special prosecutors to investigate Teapot Dome scandal). Some were appointed by both. See In re Sealed Case, 829 F.2d 50, 51–54 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (explaining how Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh was appointed under the Independent Counsel Act and by separate regulation). And some-as far as this Court can tell— were appointed without any formal statutory or regulatory authority at all. See Terry Eastland, Ethics, Politics, and the Independent Counsel 8-9 (1989). 27 Thus, it can hardly be said that Attorneys General have drawn consistently on Section 515 or its predecessor statutes as a source of appointment authority [see ECF No. 374 p. 16]. Nor is it true that "past Attorneys General" were solely and exclusively responsible for the act of appointment [see ECF No. 374 p. 16]. Notable nineteenth- and twentieth-century special prosecutors were appointed directly by U.S. Presidents. Logan, supra at 10, 13, 28-29 (describing appointments by President Grant (with Senate confirmation) and President Truman). 28 Moreover, 26 Appointing regulations themselves have cited an inconsistent patchwork of statutory authority. Crucially here, many such regulations did not cite Section 515 (or Section 533). The regulation appointing Special Prosecutor Jaworksi serves as an example. 38 Fed. Reg. 30,739, amended by 38 Fed. Reg. 32,805 (citing 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510 and 5 U.S.C. § 301). So does the regulation appointing Special Counsel Ken Starr to investigate the Whitewater scandal, which (interestingly) cited Section 543. 28 C.F.R. § 603.1 (citing 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 543 and 5 U.S.C. § 301). 27 See also David A. Logan, Historical Uses of a Special Prosecutor: The Administrations of Presidents Grant, Coolidge and Truman 7, 28-29 (Congressional Research Service Nov. 23, 1973); Andrew Coan, Prosecuting the President 23-40 (2019); [ECF No. 647 pp. 110–11]. 28 These appointments do not appear to have been made by formal order or regulation. 37

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 38 of 93 Some were the practices and protocol for removing such officers varied considerably. removable and were, in fact, removed—at will by Presidents, see id. at 12–13, 33–34 (discussing President Grant and Truman firing special prosecutors), whereas others were largely insulated from removal by certain statutory or regulatory features, e.g., 38 Fed. Reg. 30,739, amended by 38 Fed. Reg. 32,805 (dramatically limiting President Nixon's power to remove Special Prosecutor Jaworski, following Nixon's firing of former Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox). The second mistaken premise is that Special Counsel Smith is just another in a long line of "special attorneys” of similar ilk. In fact, very few historic special attorneys resemble Special Counsel Smith. For starters, the title "special counsel" is of fairly recent vintage. Special-attorney- like figures bore many titles throughout the decades. Special attorneys. Special assistants. Special prosecutors. Independent counsels. And most recently, special counsels. In the Court's view, this is not an insignificant semantic detail. See Kavanaugh, supra at 2136 n.5. As discussed below, it is emblematic of the variant backgrounds, roles, and authorities possessed by these historical figures. Moreover, the appointment of private citizens like Mr. Smith- -as opposed to already-retained federal employees appears much closer to the exception than the rule. The historic cases cited in Special Counsel Smith's Opposition demonstrate as much [ECF No. 374 pp. 14–15]; compare United States v. Crosthwaite, 168 U.S. 375, 376 (1897) (appointing "special assistant" from within DOJ to aid in prosecution), and United States v. Winston, 170 U.S. 522, 524-25 (1898) (designating federal district attorney to serve as “special counsel" in another district), and In re Persico, 522 F.2d at 45-46 (appointing internal DOJ attorney to act as "Special Attorney” on organized crime “strike force”), with United States v. Rosenthal, 121 F. 862 (S.D.N.Y. 1903) (seeming to appoint private citizen as "special assistant to the Attorney General"). 38 38

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 39 of 93 And while the past half century has shown an uptick in private-citizen special counsels, that practice is far from uniform. Compare Order No. 3915-2017 (appointing private citizen Robert Mueller as Special Counsel), with Letter from Acting Attorney General James B. Comey to Patrick J. Fitzgerald (Dec. 30, 2003) (appointing U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as Special Counsel), and Order No. 4878-2020 (appointing U.S. Attorney John Durham as Special Counsel), and Order No. 5730-2023 (appointing U.S. Attorney David Weiss as Special Counsel). Nor is it true that special attorneys have operated with the same degree of power and autonomy as Special Counsel Smith. Consider again the historic cases cited in the Opposition [ECF No. 374 pp. 14–15]: those cases featured special attorneys with varying degrees of authority, most of whom were subject to greater oversight than Special Counsel Smith. See Crosthwaite, 168 U.S. at 376 (describing “special assistant” whose authority was largely limited to aiding the U.S. Attorney, to whom he reported); In re Persico, 522 F.2d at 51-52 (describing special attorney as existing in a "tight bureaucratic hierarchy controlled by the Attorney General” and “under virtually constant specific direction and control”).2 Additionally, on several occasions, 29 30 Congress has helped define and indeed controlled the degree and scope of special counsels' 29 The special attorney in In re Persico operated under the supervision of at least three separate higher-ranking members. 522 F.2d at 45. He functioned in an assisting capacity and lacked the independent authority to take various actions without approval. See id. at 45-46. “The situation here is quite unlike that we would face were the Attorney General to grant such a commission to a single person outside the bureaucratic structure who might take action and incur fiscal and other liabilities for the government without limit.” Id. at 52. 30 The "Special Assistant to the Attorney General” featured in Rosenthal bears closer resemblance to Special Counsel Smith. He “appeared before [a] grand jury, and chiefly conducted the proceedings that resulted in the indictments” of several individuals involved in fraudulent importations of Japanese silks. Rosenthal, 121 F. at 865. In that case, however, the court determined that the special assistant was not an “officer” under the relevant statutes, nor did those statutes authorize him to appear before grand juries. Id. at 866-69. See also supra p. 35 n.25. 39 39

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 40 of 93 authority. See Logan, supra pp. 30-31 (describing Congress's denial of President Truman's request that special prosecutor be given subpoena and immunity-granting power); id. p. 22 (detailing Senate's role in “direct[ing] the President to appoint special counsel" to investigate Teapot Dome). And perhaps most importantly, Congress―historically, and in the present moment―has shown that it knows how to create offices for special counsels. In 1924, Congress did so in response to the Teapot Dome scandal. Ch. 16, 43 Stat. 6 (“[T]he President is further authorized and directed to appoint. . . special counsel who shall have charge and control of the prosecution of such litigation."). In 1978, Congress passed the much-discussed (and now-defunct) Independent Counsel Act. 28 U.S.C. §§ 591 et seq. In fact, there are statutes on the books right now that create offices for "special counsels” with unique jurisdictions. 5 U.S.C. §§ 1211–19 (establishing an "Office of Special Counsel" to protect federal employees from “prohibited personnel practices"); 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(c)(1) (establishing a "Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices" to investigate and prosecute immigration-related employment offenses).³1 All this stands to demonstrate that Congress knows how to legislate in this space. And when it does, it does so expressly and unequivocally. *** In the end, there does appear to be a “tradition" of appointing special-attorney-like figures in moments of political scandal throughout the country's history. But very few, if any, of these 31 The Court expresses no opinion on whether these "special counsels” are truly constitutional officers. Notably, however, in both cases, Congress required these special counsels to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 5 U.S.C. § 1211(b) ("The Special Counsel shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of 5 years."); 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(c)(1) (“The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices... within the Department of Justice to serve for a term of four years.”). 40 40

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 41 of 93 figures actually resemble the position of Special Counsel Smith. Mr. Smith is a private citizen exercising the full power of a United States Attorney, and with very little oversight or supervision. When scrutinized, this spotty historical backdrop does not "amply confirm[] the Attorney General's authority to appoint the Special Counsel here" [ECF No. 374 p. 16]. Whatever marginal support the history may lend to Special Counsel Smith's position, the inconsistent patchwork of practices detailed above does not show that Congress ratified or acquiesced to the Executive's use of Section 515 (or its predecessor statutes) to appoint special counsels like Mr. Smith. And it is far from sufficient to overcome the plain language of Section 515, which, as covered above, does not confer upon the Attorney General officer-appointing power but merely establishes procedures (oath and commission) for already retained special attorneys who act in an assistant capacity. Special Counsel Smith is not an assistant. D. 28 U.S.C. § 533 The last statute cited in the Appointment Order and relied upon by the Special Counsel is 28 U.S.C. § 533 [ECF No. 374 pp. 12–14; see ECF No. 429 pp. 22-23]. Section 533 is housed within a chapter (Chapter 33) devoted to the FBI. 28 U.S.C. §§ 531-540d. See infra pp. 50–52. It is titled "Investigative and other officials; appointment," and it permits the Attorney General to appoint four different types of "officials" as specified below The Attorney General may appoint officials- to detect and prosecute crimes against the United States; (1) (2) to assist in the protection of the person of the President; and (3) to assist in the protection of the person of the Attorney General. (4) to conduct such other investigations regarding official matters under the control of the Department of Justice and the Department of State as may be directed by the Attorney General. 41

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 42 of 93 This section does not limit the authority of departments and agencies to investigate crimes against the United States when investigative jurisdiction has been assigned by law to such departments and agencies. 28 U.S.C. § 533.3 32 As a preliminary point, the Appointment Order issued in November 2022 is the first appointment order or regulation that has cited Section 533 as a source of special-counsel- appointing authority. The Special Counsel Regulations promulgated in 1999, which replaced the Independent Counsel regime of the Independent Counsel Act, did not cite Section 533 as a source of authority. 28 C.F.R. §§ 600.1 et seq. (citing 5 U.S.C. § 301; 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515–519). Nor did the regulation appointing the Special Prosecutor in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974). 38 Fed. Reg. 30738, as amended by 38 Fed. Reg. 32805 (citing 5 U.S.C. § 301; 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510). Nor did the Order appointing Special Counsel Robert Mueller, or any preceding special counsel appointing order. Order No. 3915-2017 (citing 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515). In the Court's review, Section 533 was cited for the first time in 2022-in the Order appointing Special Counsel Smith—although it has twice been employed since then. 33 Special Counsel Smith argues that Section 533(1) confers on the Attorney General the authority to appoint special counsels, specifically, constitutional officers wielding the "full power and independent authority . . . of any United States Attorney.” 28 C.F.R. § 600.6. After careful review, the Court is convinced that it does not. Congress “does not hide elephants in mouseholes." Whitman v. Am. Trucking Associations, 531 U.S. 457, 468 (2001). Special Counsel 32 The misplaced “and” following subsection (2)—which should properly follow subsection (3)— appears to stem from a 2002 amendment to Section 533. See Pub. L. 107-273, § 204(e), 116 Stat. 1758, 1776 (2022). This apparent drafting error does not impact the Court's statutory analysis. 33 Order No. 5730-2023 (appointing David C. Weiss); Order No. 5588-2023 (appointing Robert K. Hur). 42

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 43 of 93 Smith's interpretation would shoehorn appointment authority for United States Attorney- equivalents into a statute that permits the hiring of FBI law enforcement personnel. Such a reading is unsupported by Section 533's plain language and statutory context; inconsistent with Congress's usual legislative practice; and threatens to undermine the “basic separation-of-powers principles" that "give life and content” to the Appointments Clause. Morrison, 487 U.S. at 715 (Scalia, J., dissenting). The Court explains below. i. The term "officials" is not synonymous with "officers." Section 533(1) authorizes the Attorney General to "appoint officials. . . to detect and prosecute crimes against the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 533(1). The parties dispute the proper interpretation of the term "officials." Defendants argue that “officials" is most naturally read as "nonofficer employees" [ECF No. 326 pp. 7–8; see ECF No. 364-1 pp. 16–18]. Special Counsel Smith advances a broader interpretation, arguing that “official[s]' is a generic term that covers both officers and employees" [ECF No. 374 p. 13]. The Court agrees with Defendants. Courts interpreting statutes “look to the plain and ordinary meaning of the statutory language as it was understood at the time the law was enacted.” United States v. Chinchilla, 987 F.3d 1303, 1308 (11th Cir. 2021). “One of the ways to figure out that meaning is by looking at dictionaries in existence around the time of enactment." Id. (citation omitted). Here, applicable dictionary definitions indicate that “officer” and “official," though overlapping in some areas, are Definitions of "officer" emphasize the elevated degree of authority, responsibility, and duty that inheres in the position. Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961) (defining “officer” as “one who holds an office: one who is appointed or elected to serve in a position of trust, authority, or command esp. as spefic. provided for by law” and “distinguished not synonymous. 43 43

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 44 of 93 from employee and sometimes from official"). 34 These same characteristics are often absent from definitions of “official," which tend to describe a more general class of bureaucratic personnel. Id. (defining “official” as “a person authorized to act for a government . . . esp. in administering or directing in a subordinate capacity," but also referring to "one who holds or is invested with an office"). 35 To be sure, some definitions overlap, and the words share linguistic echoes and roots. See Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1967) (defining “official” as “a person appointed or elected to an office or charged with certain duties, esp. in the government”). But the terms are not synonymous, nor can they be superficially substituted. See Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 618-19. Definitions indicate that “officers" are distinguished from "officials" by the “greater importance, dignity, and independence of [their] position[s]." Officer, Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1951). Put succinctly: while all officers may be officials, not all officials are officers. It may be true that, in some circumstances, the broader term “officials" can operate as a "catch-all phrase that includes both officers and employees" [ECF No. 647 p. 53; see ECF No. 374 p. 12]. "But a statute's meaning does not always 'turn solely' on the broadest imaginable ‘definitions of its component words.' Linguistic and statutory context also matter.” Epic Sys. Corp. v. Lewis, 584 U.S. 497, 523 (2018) (quoting Yates v. United States, 574 U.S. 528, 537 34 Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1971) (defining “officer” as one holding an "office of trust, authority, or command," not simply that of an unspecified “office"); Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1951) (defining “officer” as “one who is lawfully invested with an office," and "one who is charged by a superior power (and particularly by government) with the power and duty of exercising certain functions"); id. (explaining that “officer' is distinguished from an ‘employee' in the greater importance, dignity, and independence of his position, in requirement of oath, bond, more enduring tenure, and fact of duties being prescribed by law"). 35 Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1971) (defining “official” as one “invested with an office," but "esp. a subordinate one"); Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1951) (defining "official" as "[a]n officer; a person invested with the authority of an office"). 44

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 45 of 93 (2015)); see Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L. P., 144 S. Ct. 2071, 2082 (2024) ("When faced with a catchall phrase. . . courts do not necessarily afford it the broadest possible construction it can bear."). As discussed below, when read in context, “officials” is narrowed by what it describes. When read in its specific statutory context, Section 533(1) cannot bear the expansive meaning advanced by Special Counsel Smith. ii. "When words have several plausible definitions, context differentiates among them." United States v. Hansen, 599 U.S. 762, 775 (2023). “[T]he meaning of a word cannot be determined in isolation, but must be drawn from the context in which it is used." Deal, 508 U.S. at 132. Under the noscitur a sociis canon, “a word is known by the company it keeps." Jarecki v. G. D. Searle & Co., 367 U.S. 303, 307 (1961). This canon “is often wisely applied where a word is capable of many meanings in order to avoid giving unintended breadth to the Acts of Congress." Id. Like all statutory terms, “officials” as used in Section 533(1) "does not stand alone but gathers meaning from the words around it.” Id. When “officials” is read in relation to the subsections it describes, it is evident that Section 533(1) does not afford the Attorney General broad power to appoint special counsels. Consider its fellow subsections. Subsections (2) through (4) describe security and investigative employees within the FBI-bureaucratic personnel making up the "broad swath of 'lesser functionaries' in the Government's workforce." Lucia, 585 U.S. at 245 (defining “employees"); see 28 U.S.C. § 533(2)-(4). While undoubtedly important, these individuals cannot fairly be characterized as constitutional officers who, by definition, exercise "significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States.” Buckley, 424 U.S. at 126; see Edmond, 520 U.S. at 662 (describing authority as "the line between officer and nonofficer”). It is implausible, then, that Congress intended to wedge appointment power for special counsels 45

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 46 of 93 possessing the "full power . . . of any United States Attorney" into a statute concerning low- and mid-level law enforcement personnel in a statutory section governing the FBI. 28 C.F.R. § 600.6.36 Section 533(1)'s use of the phrase “detect and prosecute crimes” does not otherwise transform the provision into a grant of special-counsel-appointing authority. 28 U.S.C. § 533(1) (emphasis added). In the context of this FBI provision, and drawing from applicable dictionary definitions, the meaning of "prosecute" naturally encompasses FBI employees who are engaged or involved in federal investigations and prosecutions. See, e.g., Prosecute, Black's Law Dictionary (3d ed. 1933) (“To follow up; to carry on an action or other judicial proceeding; to proceed against a person criminally."). 37 This could include FBI attorneys and other legal staff, but it also naturally encompasses non-lawyer FBI personnel involved in prosecutorial efforts to pursue and/or investigate a crime or claim, such as FBI agents, intelligence officials, and forensic specialists. At any rate, as Section 533(1)'s subsections clarify, it authorizes only the hiring of 36 This reading comports with how “officials” is used elsewhere in Chapter 33. Section 534 uses the term to describe positions that are far more consistent with an "employee" designation than an "officer" designation. See 28 U.S.C. § 534 (describing “officials" that the Attorney General "may appoint. . . to perform the functions authorized by this section"). Moreover, Congress's uses the express phrase "officers and employees” (not the umbrella term “officials") elsewhere in the same chapter. 28 U.S.C. § 535(a) ("The Attorney General and the [FBI] may investigate any violation of Federal criminal law involving Government officers and employees ...."); see also 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510 (differentiating between "officers" and "employees"). Reading “officials" to mean "officers and employees” would conflict with the meaningful variation canon. See In re Failla, 838 F.3d 1170, 1176 (11th Cir. 2016) (quoting Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts 170 (2012)). 37 Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961) (providing various formulations, including "to follow, follow after, pursue”; “to follow to the end: press to execution or completion: pursue until finished"; "to develop in detail: go further into: INVESTIGATE”; “to engage in or proceed with: carry on: PERFORM"; "to institute legal proceedings against, esp.: to accuse of some crime or breach of law or to pursue for redress or punishment of a crime or violation of law in due legal form before a legal tribunal”; “to institute legal proceedings with reference" to a “claim,” an “action,” or a “prosecution” for “public offenses”). 46

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 47 of 93 prosecutorial employees-not constitutional officers like Special Counsel Smith. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 533(2)–(4). Nor is the Court persuaded by the Special Counsel's suggestion that reading “officials" as "non-officer employees" would render superfluous the term “employees" as used in Section 533(1) [ECF No. 647 p. 53]. This posits an artificial binary. It fails to consider the gradient of authority that exists between the lowest-level employees and constitutional “Officers” wielding “significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States." Buckley, 424 U.S. at 126. Take the FBI as an example. An FBI agent is an “employee.” The agent's supervisor—who possesses more responsibility and influence than the agent―may rightly be deemed an “official." And the FBI Director at the top of the organizational chart is a constitutional "Officer” appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. And among this sliding-scale of authority, context shows that "official" as used in Section 533(1) cannot be fairly read to mean constitutional officer. iii. Congress tracks the language of the Appointments Clause when vesting officer-appointing power in department heads. Reading “officials" as "officers and employees” would also be contrary to Congress's typical legislative practice. As indicated above, when Congress "by Law vest[s] the Appointment of such inferior Officers . . . in the Heads of Departments," it does so in a particular way. Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. A survey of generalized vesting statutes throughout the United States Code shows that Congress routinely uses the term "officers," or the phrase "officers and employees" when vesting officer-appointing power in department heads. 38 Consider the following examples, some of which were covered above: 38 The Court refers to “generalized” vesting statutes as those which concern the appointment of a largely undefined group of individuals. See 49 U.S.C. § 323(a) (“The Secretary of Transportation may appoint and fix the pay of officers and employees of the Department of Transportation and may prescribe their duties and powers."). These are distinct from position-specific statutes. See 47

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 48 of 93 "The Secretary of Agriculture may appoint such officers and employees, subject to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of Title 5, and such experts, as are necessary to execute the functions vested in him by this chapter.” 7 U.S.C. § 610(a) (emphasis added). "The Secretary [of Education] is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of such officers and employees, including attorneys, as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Secretary and the Department.” 20 U.S.C. § 3461(a) (emphasis added). "The [HHS] Secretary is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of such officers and employees, and to make such expenditures as may be necessary for carrying out the functions of the Secretary under this chapter.” 42 U.S.C.A. § 913 (emphasis added). "The Secretary of Transportation may appoint and fix the pay of officers and employees of the Department of Transportation and may prescribe their duties and powers." 49 U.S.C. § 323(a) (emphasis added). Congress employed this same formulation when vesting officer-appointing power in the Attorney General for the Bureau of Prisons: "The Attorney General may appoint such additional officers and employees as he deems necessary.” 18 U.S.C. § 4041. To be sure, there may be instances in which Congress uses “officials" to confer officer- appointing power [ECF No. 640 p. 3 (supplemental authority)], but in those instances, Congress still tracks the constitutional language of the Appointments Clause in a way that reflects officer status—that is, by appending some variation of “appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate” to make explicit that “officials” means "officers."³9 10 U.S.C. § 137a(a) (authorizing the hiring of six “officials" who "shall be appointed from civilian life by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate"); 22 U.S.C. § 285a(a)(1)(B) (describing "officials required by law to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate"); 22 U.S.C. § 290g-1(a)(2) (same); 22 U.S.C. § 2651a(d) (authorizing appointment of 28 U.S.C. § 542(a) ("The Attorney General may appoint one or more assistant United States attorneys in any district when the public interest so requires."). 39 The term "officials" appears nowhere in the Appointments Clause or in the Constitution. 48

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 49 of 93 officials "who are otherwise authorized to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate"); 28 U.S.C. § 561(c) (describing U.S. marshals as “officials" appointed by the President "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate"); 50 U.S.C. § 3369d(c)(1)(A) (authorizing appointment of "officials of such agency or department who occupy a position that is required to be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate”). 40 41 Congress regularly intends certain words and phrases “to be read as terms of art connecting the congressional exercise of legislative authority with the constitutional provision . . . that grants Congress that authority." Scheidler v. Nat'l Org. for Women, Inc., 547 U.S. 9, 17-18 (2006) (collecting cases); see Hansen, 599 U.S. at 775 (“Here, the context of these words—the water in which they swim-indicates that Congress used them as terms of art."); F.A.A. v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 284, 292-93 (2012). That seems to be the case in the appointments context, where Congress adheres closely to the constitutional text, and it would be consistent with the Supreme Court's 40 The remaining statutes cited in the Special Counsel's notice of supplemental authority are inapplicable for one of two reasons. First are those which do not confer officer-appointing power at all. 10 U.S.C. § 397 (providing that the Secretary "shall designate” an official to serve as principal advisor from “among officials appointed . . . by and with the advice and consent of the Senate")), 10 U.S.C. § 988(c) (definitions section imbedded in statute that does not confer appointing power), 16 U.S.C. § 831e (mandating that appointments of “employees or officials”— which are provided for elsewhere in Chapter 12A (Tennessee Valley Authority)-be nonpolitical). Second are those in which, as best the Court can tell, the term “official” describes a position that lacks the “significant authority” commensurate with a constitutional officer, Buckley, 424 U.S. at 126, such that the Appointments Clause is not implicated. 6 U.S.C. § 142(a) (providing for appointment of "senior official" to "assume primary responsibility for privacy policy” at DHS, and requiring said official to obtain approval from Secretary for subpoenas); 50 U.S.C. § 4306 (authorizing "[t]he President to appoint... an official to be known as the alien property custodian"). To the extent the "officials" in the second category of examples are deemed somehow to veer into “officer” territory—a proposition untested in caselaw—those statutes would be clear outliers against the weight of contrary statutory language described above. 41 The Constitutional Lawyers' amicus brief includes a lengthy string citation to provisions in which “official” subsumes “officer" [ECF No. 429 p. 22 n.4]. These provisions, mostly definitional, do not confer officer-appointing power. 49

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 50 of 93 demonstrated preference in this realm. See Edmond, 520 U.S. at 657–58; Weiss, 510 U.S. at 171– 72; Germaine, 99 U.S. at 510.42 In sum, this consistent legislative practice shows that Section 533(1)'s unspecified use of "officials" as opposed to “officers,” or “officers and employees”—“is not merely stylistic." Edmond, 520 U.S. at 657. Rather, it is telling of Congress' intent. As the collection of statutes above shows, "had Congress meant to confer 'officer'-appointing power via § 533 or any other provision, ‘it easily could have done so." Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 619 (quoting Baker Botts LLP v. ASARCO LLC, 576 U.S. 121, 129 (2015)). iv. Section 533's placement in the statutory scheme compels a more circumscribed reading. As noted above, Section 533 is housed in a chapter concerning the “Federal Bureau of Investigation.” 28 U.S.C. §§ 531-540d.43 It is sandwiched between 28 U.S.C. § 532, a statute 42 The Special Counsel invokes Edmond to argue that the Supreme Court found officer-appointing authority in a "default statute" with language more general than that of Section 533 [ECF No. 374 p. 12]. Edmond did find statutory appointment authority for Coast Guard judges in 49 U.S.C. § 323(a). 520 U.S. at 656. But merely comparing the statutes' generality ignores a critical, distinguishing feature: unlike Section 533, the statute in Edmond expressly uses the word "officer." 49 U.S.C. § 323(a) (authorizing appointment of "officers and employees of the Department of Transportation"). Edmond held that a vesting statute need “not specifically mention" a particular officer, so long as the statute's "plain language . . . appears to give the Secretary power to appoint them." Edmond, 520 U.S. at 656. The text of 49 U.S.C. § 323(a) passed that test. Section 533 does not. 43 Special Counsel Smith insists that consideration of Chapter 33's title, "Federal Bureau of Investigation," cannot be considered unless the Court finds that Section 533 is ambiguous [ECF No. 374 p. 13]. It is true that “the title of a statute cannot limit the plain meaning of the text" and should be used "[f]or interpretive purposes... only when it sheds light on some ambiguous word or phrase." Pennsylvania Dep't of Corr. v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206, 212 (1998) (internal brackets and quotations omitted). Still, however, there can be no dispute that evaluation of a statute's placement in its statutory scheme is a permissible tool of statutory construction. In any event, with respect to consideration of Section 533's "title," the Court sees no legal barrier to consulting the title here given the parties' arguments—although such consideration merely confirms the conclusion that the use of the word "officials" in Section 533(1) does not confer officer-appointing power in the manner claimed by the Special Counsel. 50

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 51 of 93 about the appointment of the FBI Director, and 28 U.S.C. § 534, which concerns the acquisition, preservation, and exchange of evidence in criminal cases. Given Section 533's location, it is exceedingly unlikely that Congress intended to tuck special-counsel-appointing power into a chapter devoted to the FBI.44 Several of the surrounding chapters are clearly more natural homes for such a statute. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 501-530D (Attorney General); 28 U.S.C. §§ 561-575 (U.S. Attorneys). And as mentioned at length above, until 1999, there was an entire chapter in the DOJ Section of Title 28 devoted to such independent counsel figures. 28 U.S.C. §§ 591-599 (Independent Counsel Act). Section 533's heading, “Investigative and other officials; appointment," provides an additional indicator that the provision is cabined to low- or mid-level FBI personnel. While "headings are not commanding, they supply clues" of congressional intent. Yates, 574 U.S. at 540. Unlike prior statutes concerning independent counsels, Section 533's heading lacks any indication that it concerns a "Special Counsel," or deals with prosecutorial power at all. Compare 28 U.S.C. § 533 with 28 U.S.C. § 592 ("Preliminary investigation and application for appointment of an independent counsel"), and 28 U.S.C. § 594 ("Authority and duties of an independent counsel"), and 28 U.S.C. § 594 (United States attorneys); cf. Pub. L. No. 95–521, § 601, ch. 39 (Special Prosecutor), 92 Stat. 1824 (Oct. 26, 1978). It would be odd indeed if lawmakers—in establishing an office with the prosecutorial might of a United States Attorney-made no such mention in the 44 In response, Special Counsel Smith cites two out-of-circuit cases in which courts-both in footnotes extended Section 533 beyond the FBI context [ECF No. 374 p. 14 (citing United States v. Hasan, 846 F. Supp. 2d 541, 546 n.7 (E.D. Va. 2012) and United States v. Fortuna, No. 12-cr- 636 2013 WL 1737215, at *2 n.8 (D.N.J. Apr. 22, 2013))]. These cases did not involve Appointments Clause challenges. They did not engage with the text of 28 U.S.C. § 533 or its location in the United States Code. And they did not authorize appointment of constitutional "officers" with the power of the Special Counsel; rather, they approved appointment of ATF officials (i.e., agents). Accordingly, the Court does not find them persuasive in this context. 51

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 52 of 93 statute's heading. If Congress had intended to create such a powerful and significant office in Section 533, it would not have obscurely buried the lede and omitted any such reference from the statute's heading, or more importantly, from the text of the provision itself. *** For the reasons stated above, as a matter of plain text, statutory context, and legislative practice, Section 533-cited in an appointment order for the first time in November 2022 as purported authority—does not provide a basis in “Law” for the appointment of Special Counsel Smith. Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. E. Special Counsel Smith's interpretation undermines the separation-of-powers principles that animate the Appointments Clause and destabilizes Congress's carefully crafted statutory structure for the DOJ. On a more fundamental level, adopting the Special Counsel's untenable interpretation of Sections 515(b) and 533 erodes the "basic separation-of-powers principles" that "give life and content" to the Appointments Clause by wresting from Congress its constitutionally prescribed role in the officer-appointing process. Morrison, 487 U.S. at 715 (Scalia, J., dissenting). It also destabilizes Congress's carefully crafted statutory structure for DOJ. As the discussion in this Order demonstrates, Congress has carefully enacted a statutory scheme, consistent with the Appointments Clause, governing the appointment of high-level federal prosecutors. See Calabresi & Lawson, supra pp. 113-115. Most relevant here, United States Attorneys, the officers most closely resembling Special Counsel Smith, see 28 C.F.R. § 600.6, must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 28 U.S.C. § 541. Adopting the position of the Special Counsel allows any Attorney General, without Congressional input, to circumvent this statutory scheme and appoint one-off special counsels to wield the immense power of a United States Attorney. This strips from Congress its role in the appointments process, and it 52 52

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 53 of 93 does so, moreover, in a highly sensitive area involving “life, liberty, and reputation.” Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Att'y Gen., Address at the Second Annual Conference of United States Attorneys: The Federal Prosecutor 1 (Apr. 1, 1940) (describing immense power of federal prosecutors over citizenry). Absent a statute vesting appointing power elsewhere, the "default manner of appointment for inferior officers" is Presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. Edmond, 520 U.S. at 660. And while Congress may "vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they see proper, in... Heads of Departments," Art. II, § 2, cl. 2, it did not do so in the cited statutes. Such a broad reading results in precisely the type of diffusion and encroachment that concerned the Framers in drafting the Appointments Clause. Freytag, 501 U.S. at 883–86; Weiss, 510 U.S. at 187-89 (Souter, J., concurring) ("If the structural benefits the Appointments Clause was designed to provide are to be preserved . . . no branch may aggrandize its own appointment power at the expense of another."). The Court thus declines to dilute the appointment power by reading Sections 515(b) and 533(1) as ceding a core legislative function to another branch. See Freytag, 501 U.S. at 885 ("The Framers recognized the dangers posed by an excessively diffuse appointment power and rejected efforts to expand that power. So do we.") (internal citation omitted); id. at 884–86. IV. United States v. Nixon The parties disagree about the precedential value of a passage from United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) [ECF No. 326 pp. 8–9; ECF No. 374 pp. 8–10; ECF No. 414 pp. 3-4; ECF No. 364-1 pp. 22-23]. That passage is reproduced below. The Court emphasizes the statement that serves as the focal point of the parties' dispute. Under the authority of Art. II, § 2, Congress has vested in the Attorney General the power to conduct the criminal litigation of the United States Government. 28 U.S.C. § 516. It has also vested in him the power to appoint subordinate officers to assist him in the discharge of his duties. 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533. Acting pursuant 53 53

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 54 of 93 to those statutes, the Attorney General has delegated the authority to represent the United States in these particular matters to a Special Prosecutor with unique authority and tenure. The regulation gives the Special Prosecutor explicit power to contest the invocation of executive privilege in the process of seeking evidence deemed relevant to the performance of these specially delegated duties. Id. at 694-95 (emphasis added and footnote omitted).45 Defendants argue that Nixon's statement about the Attorney General's statutory authority is non-binding dictum and thus should not control the Court's statutory analysis (as done above) [ECF No. 326 pp. 8–9; ECF No. 414 pp. 3-4]. The Special Counsel argues that this statement “formed a necessary element of [Nixon's] holding," and therefore constitutes binding precedent [ECF No. 374 p. 9]. Following a comprehensive review of the Supreme Court record, 46 the Court concludes that the disputed statement from Nixon is dictum. The issue of the Attorney General's appointment authority was not raised, briefed, argued, or disputed before the Nixon Court. Nixon is undoubtedly precedential in several areas—for example, in its pronouncements on the justiciability of an intra- branch controversy; the test for issuing Rule 17(c) subpoenas; and application of executive privilege in the face of a valid subpoena. Those issues were presented, argued, and carefully considered. The same is not true of the Attorney General's statutory appointment authority. At most, Nixon assumed that antecedent proposition, without deciding it. United States v. Verdugo- Urquidez, 494 U.S. 259, 272 (1990). Thus, Nixon's passing remarks on that point are not binding 45 For the sake of completeness, the omitted footnote provides, in relevant part, that “[t]he regulation issued by the Attorney General pursuant to his statutory authority, vests in the Special Prosecutor plenary authority to control the course of investigations and litigation related to" Watergate. Id. at 694 n.8. 46 The Court collected and reviewed all available filings in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) (No. 73-1766), and Nixon v. United States, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) (No. 73-1834). This includes the applicable cert petitions and merits briefing, along with amicus briefs, the full appendix, and the consolidated oral argument transcript. Oral Argument, United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) (Nos. 73-1766, 73-1834). 54

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 55 of 93 precedent in "future cases," as here, “that directly raise the question[]." Id. Giving these remarks precedential weight runs the risk that “stray language” from the Nixon opinion "will take on importance in a new context that its drafters could not have anticipated." Rudolph v. United States, 92 F.4th 1038, 1045 (11th Cir. 2024). This section proceeds in four parts. The Court (1) reviews the terms “holding” and “dicta"; (2) provides context to situate the controversy in Nixon; (3) analyzes the disputed passage from Nixon; and (4) discusses the proper weight that nevertheless should be accorded to the Nixon dictum. This section is lengthy because the Nixon dictum has taken on significance in related cases, and a full explication of the record is necessary. See In re Sealed Case, 829 F.2d 50 (D.C. Cir. 1987); In re Grand Jury Investigation, 916 F.3d 1047 (D.C. Cir. 2019). A. Legal Standards "Not all text within a judicial decision serves as precedent.” Bryan A. Garner et al., The Law of Judicial Precedent § 4, at 44 (2016). Thus, distinguishing between precedential “holdings” and non-binding "dicta" is crucially important. See Fresh Results, LLC v. ASF Holland, B.V., 921 F.3d 1043, 1049 (11th Cir. 2019). A holding "comprises both the result of the case and those portions of the opinion necessary to that result.” United States v. Caraballo-Martinez, 866 F.3d 1233, 1244 (11th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); see Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019) (defining “holding” as “[a] court's determination of a matter of law pivotal to its decision; a principle drawn from such a decision."). Dictum, on the other hand, is "a statement that neither constitutes the holding of a case, nor arises from a part of the opinion that is necessary to the holding of the case." United States v. Gillis, 938 F.3d 1181, 1198 (11th Cir. 2019) (quotation marks omitted). While courts must dutifully follow precedential holdings, “dicta is not 55

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 56 of 93 binding on anyone for any purpose," Edwards, 602 F.3d at 1298, although Supreme Court dicta does merit consideration as discussed below. Statements in an opinion that extend beyond the scope of the issues presented, briefed, and argued generally constitute dicta. "Questions which merely lurk in the record, neither brought to the attention of the court nor ruled upon, are not to be considered as having been so decided as to constitute precedents.” United States v. Jackson, 55 F.4th 846, 853 (11th Cir. 2022) (quoting Webster v. Fall, 266 U.S. 507, 511 (1925)); United States v. L. A. Tucker Truck Lines, Inc., 344 U.S. 33, 38 (1952) (“The effect of the omission was not there raised in briefs or argument nor discussed in the opinion of the Court. Therefore, the case is not a binding precedent on this point.”). The same is generally true of assumptions that are peripheral to the issues presented. "The Court often grants certiorari to decide particular legal issues while assuming without deciding the validity of antecedent propositions, and such assumptions-even on jurisdictional issues- -are not binding in future cases that directly raise the questions." Verdugo-Urquidez, 494 U.S. at 272 (internal citations omitted); Garner et al., supra at 84 ("Judicial opinions are always premised on a series of assumptions about what the law is. Yet those assumptions—whether implicit or explicit aren't generally considered precedential."). As explained by Chief Justice John Marshall: It is a maxim not to be disregarded, that general expressions, in every opinion, are to be taken in connection with the case in which those expressions are used. If they go beyond the case, they may be respected, but ought not to control the judgment in a subsequent suit when the very point is presented for decision. The reason of this maxim is obvious. The question actually before the Court is investigated with care, and considered in its full extent. Other principles which may serve to illustrate it, are considered in their relation to the case decided, but their possible bearing on all other cases is seldom completely investigated. Cohens v. State of Virginia, 19 U.S. 264, 399–400 (1821). 56

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 57 of 93 Lastly, "not all dicta are created equal." Farah v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 12 F.4th 1312, 1323 (11th Cir. 2021) (Pryor, C.J.) (quoting Garner et al., supra at 69). Dicta from the Supreme Court are entitled to considerable—and in some cases, even precedential—weight. Schwab v. Crosby, 451 F.3d 1308, 1325-26 (11th Cir. 2006) (collecting cases); Peterson v. BMI Refractories, 124 F.3d 1386, 1392 n.4 (11th Cir. 1997) (emphasizing that “dicta from the Supreme Court is not something to be lightly cast aside"). Inferior courts must accord Supreme Court dicta appropriate respect and deference. United States v. Becton, 632 F.2d 1294, 1296 n.3 (5th Cir. 1980). B. Decisional Context To discern whether the disputed passage from Nixon constitutes part of its holding, it helps to situate it in context, including by ascertaining the precise action taken by the trial court. Rudolph, 92 F.4th at 1045 (advising lower courts to "consider opinions in their context, including the questions presented and the facts of the case" in evaluating the precedential value of statements therein); see Nat'l Pork Producers Council v. Ross, 598 U.S. 356, 373–74 (2023) (emphasizing that Supreme Court opinions “dispose of discrete cases and controversies and they must be read with a careful eye to context"); Garner et al., supra at 52. Nixon involved Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski's investigation and prosecution of those involved in the Watergate scandal. The Special Prosecutor issued a subpoena to President Nixon- an unindicted co-conspirator-requiring the production of certain tapes and documents relevant to the investigation. Nixon, 418 U.S. at 686. Counsel for President Nixon moved to quash the subpoena, raising three principal arguments. United States v. Mitchell, 377 F. Supp. 1326, 1328– 29 (D.C.C. 1974). First, President Nixon argued that "courts are without authority to rule on the scope or applicability of executive privilege." Id. at 1329. The district court found this jurisdictional 57

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 58 of 93 argument to be foreclosed by circuit precedent. Id. (citing Nixon v. Sirica, 487 F.2d 700 (D.C. Cir. 1973)). Second-and most important to Defendants' Motion at issue here-President Nixon argued that the intra-branch dispute presented a nonjusticiable political question. Id. Referencing the appointing regulation, which carried “the force of law,” the district court found that the Special Prosecutor possessed sufficient independence to create a justiciable controversy. Id. at 1329 & n.7 (citing 38 Fed. Reg. 30,738). Third, President Nixon argued on the merits that the requirements for issuance of a Rule 17(c) subpoena had not been satisfied, also asserting a confidentiality privilege. Id. at 1329. The district court disagreed. Id. at 1330–31. Notably, none of these arguments (or the district court's resolution thereof) had anything to do with the Attorney General's statutory appointment authority or the Appointments Clause more generally. At the Supreme Court, President Nixon re-raised the same challenges. 47 Nixon, 418 U.S. at 686. On the justiciability question, President Nixon again asserted that the intra-branch nature of the dispute presented a nonjusticiable political question outside the purview of the judiciary. Id. at 691-92.48 The Supreme Court ultimately rejected this argument. Id. at 697. Before doing so, however, the court offered a prefatory paragraph to contextualize “the nature of the proceeding for which the evidence is sought." Id. at 694. The relevant portion of that paragraph-which was also reproduced above, supra pp. 53-54 provides: 47 There was no intermediate appellate review in Nixon; the Supreme Court granted certiorari before judgment. Nixon, 418 U.S. at 686–87. 48 See Brief for the Respondent, Cross-Petitioner at 27-48; id. at 16-17 (“Under the standards set forth in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962), this intra-branch dispute raises a political question which the federal courts lack jurisdiction to decide. The district court does not have the power to substitute its judgement for that of the President on matters exclusively within the President's discretion."); id. at 29–30 (challenging the “authority of the court or any branch of the government to intervene in a solely intra-branch dispute”); id. at 41 (same); Reply Brief for the Respondent, Cross-Petitioner at 4-13. 58

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 59 of 93 Under the authority of Art. II, § 2, Congress has vested in the Attorney General the power to conduct the criminal litigation of the United States Government. 28 U.S.C. § 516. It has also vested in him the power to appoint subordinate officers to assist him in the discharge of his duties. 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533. Acting pursuant to those statutes, the Attorney General has delegated the authority to represent the United States in these particular matters to a Special Prosecutor with unique authority and tenure. The regulation gives the Special Prosecutor explicit power to contest the invocation of executive privilege in the process of seeking evidence deemed relevant to the performance of these specially delegated duties. Id. at 694-95 (footnote omitted). Following this stage-setting paragraph, the Supreme Court determined that the extant regulation's delegation of authority—both in the independence it created in Special Prosecutor Jaworksi and in the limitations it placed on his removal-established a justiciable case or controversy. Id. at 694–98; see id. at 696 (explaining that “[s]o long as this regulation remains in force the Executive Branch is bound by it”). "In light of the uniqueness of the setting in which the conflict arises, the fact that both parties are officers of the Executive Branch cannot be viewed as a barrier to justiciability.” Id. at 697. C. Analysis With this context in mind, the Court proceeds to analyze the disputed statement from Nixon, ultimately concluding that it is dictum. i. The Attorney General's appointment authority was not an issue before the Supreme Court in Nixon. In Nixon, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide six questions: five from the Special Prosecutor's petition, and one from President Nixon's cross-petition. 49 See Petition and 49 The Nixon Court also ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs on the following two questions: (1) "Is the District Court order of May 20, 1974, an appealable order?” and (2) "Does this Court have jurisdiction to entertain and decide the petition for mandamus transmitted by the Court of Appeals to this Court?” Docket Sheets (Nos. 73-1766, 73-1834), Neither of those questions nor the briefing submitted in response-concerned the validity of the Special 59

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 60 of 93 Cross-Petition for Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment, United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) (Nos. 73-1766, 73-1834). Those questions are copied verbatim below: Special Prosecutor's Petition 1. Whether the President, when he has assumed sole personal and physical control over evidence demonstrably material to the trial of charges of obstruction of justice in a federal court, is subject to a judicial order directing compliance with a subpoena duces tecum issued on the application of the Special Prosecutor in the name of the United States. 2. Whether a federal court is bound by the assertion by the President of an absolute "executive privilege" to withhold demonstrably material evidence from the trial of charges of obstruction of justice by his own White House aides and party leaders, upon the ground that he deems production to be against the public interest. 3. Whether a claim of executive privilege based on the generalized interest in the confidentiality of government deliberations can block the prosecution's access to evidence material and important to the trial of charges of criminal misconduct by high government officials who participated in those deliberations, particularly where there is a prima facie showing that the deliberation occurred in the course of the criminal conspiracy. 4. Whether any executive privilege that otherwise might have been applicable to discussions in the offices of the President concerning the Watergate matter has been waived by previous testimony pursuant to the President's approval and by the President's public release of 1,216 pages of edited transcript of forty-three Presidential conversations related to Watergate. 5. Whether the district court properly determined that a subpoena duces tecum issued to the President satisfies the standards of Rule 17(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure because an adequate showing has been made that the subpoenaed items are relevant to issues to be tried and will be admissible in evidence. President Nixon's Cross-Petition 1. Whether, under the Constitution, a grand jury has the authority to charge an incumbent President as an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal proceeding. As the Nixon opinion reflects, the questions presented—that is, “[t]he questions actually before the Court”—were “investigated with care, and considered in their fullest extent." Cohens, Prosecutor. See Supplement Brief for the Petitioner, No. 73-1766; Brief for Respondent, Cross- Petitioner, No. 73-1766. 60 60

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 61 of 93 19 U.S. at 399. The same is not true of the Attorney General's statutory appointment authority, a peripheral subject that was not raised in the case. To reiterate, “[t]he Court often grants certiorari to decide particular legal issues while assuming without deciding the validity of antecedent propositions, and such assumptions—even on jurisdictional issues- -are not binding in future cases that directly raise the questions." Verdugo-Urquidez, 494 U.S. at 272; see Becton, 632 F.2d at 1296 n.3; Caraballo-Martinez, 866 F.3d at 1245; see also United States v. Manafort, 321 F. Supp. 3d 640 (E.D. Va. 2018).50 Because the statutory-authority question was not before the Supreme Court, the opinion's single prefatory sentence does not amount to a precedential holding. The Special Prosecutor's validity was uncontested. ii. A case is not "binding precedent' on points that were not there raised in briefs or argument nor discussed in the opinion." Bourdon v. United States Dep't of Homeland Sec., 940 F.3d 537, 548-49 (11th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation marks omitted); Garner et al., supra at 84–85. The rationale behind such a rule is sensible. Where "the issue addressed in the passage was not presented as an issue, [and] hence was not refined by the fires of adversary presentation,” it is far less likely to constitute a carefully reasoned, essential part of the court's opinion. United States v. Crawley, 837 F.2d 291, 293 (7th Cir. 1988) (Posner, J.) (defining “dictum"). Across hundreds of pages of briefing (and hours of oral argument) in Nixon, neither party challenged the Special Prosecutor's validity or the Attorney General's appointment authority. In fact, on numerous occasions, President Nixon expressly stated that he did not contest these points. Brief for the Respondent at 42 (stating, in reference to the regulation, that “the President has not 50 In United States v. Manafort, 321 F. Supp. 3d 640 (E.D. Va. 2018), the court determined that Nixon's line "[s]o long as this regulation is extant it has the force of law," was dictum. Id. at 659 (quoting Nixon, 418 U.S. at 695); see also id. ("Nixon is inapposite inasmuch as the holding there did not adjudicate the legal authority of a special prosecutor."). 61

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 62 of 93 in the past nor does he here challenge those powers that were given to the Special Prosecutor in Watergate-related matters"); Reply Brief for the Respondent at 8 (emphasizing that "[w]e do not contest the Special Prosecutor's assertion that his authority is derived from the Attorney General"); see Tr. of Oral Argument, Nos. 73-1766, 73-1834. The Special Counsel acknowledges as much [ECF No. 374 p. 9 (accepting that “President Nixon did not contest that statutory analysis")]. This absence of argument on the appointment-authority point further cements the disputed passage's status as dictum. The parties themselves litigated the entire case without touching the issue. The Court's statement on the Attorney General's statutory authority was not "necessary" to its resolution of the justiciability issue. iii. Even though the statutory-authorization question was not at issue, and despite its absence from the record, Special Counsel Smith still contends that Nixon's comment on this point "formed a necessary element of its holding” [ECF No. 374 p. 9]. He argues that "finding statutory authority for the appointment was thus central to the Court's conclusion that '[s]o long as this regulation [setting forth the Special Prosecutor's authority] is extant it has the force of law"" [ECF No. 374 p. 9 (quoting Nixon, 418 U.S. at 695) (alterations in Opposition)]. This "read[s] too much into too little." Nat'l Pork Producers Council, 598 U.S. at 373 (stressing that opinions must "be read with a careful eye to context"). The disputed passage is located within a prefatory, stage-setting paragraph which merely served to tee up the case-or-controversy analysis that followed. As recap, President Nixon argued that the case presented a nonjusticiable political question by virtue of the intra-branch nature of the dispute. See supra p. 58 n.48. The Nixon Court disagreed. “[J]usticiability does not depend on such a surface inquiry.” 418 U.S. at 693. Instead, Nixon stated that “courts must look behind names that symbolize the parties to determine whether a justiciable case or controversy is presented." Id. (citation omitted). In doing so, Nixon zoomed out and provided a high-level 62 62

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 63 of 93 background paragraph explaining how the case landed at the Supreme Court. Id. at 694 (“Our starting point is the nature of the proceeding for which the evidence is sought-here a pending criminal prosecution.”). It is within this overview paragraph that the disputed dictum is located. Properly situated in this context, therefore, Nixon's remark on the Attorney General's statutory authority is more akin to an “aside like statement” or digression, United States v. Files, 63 F.4th 920, 929 & n.7 (collecting similar examples), than a "determination of a matter of law pivotal to its decision," Holding, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019). See Georgia Ass'n of Latino Elected Offs., Inc. v. Gwinnett Cnty. Bd. of Registration & Elections, 36 F.4th 1100, 1119– 20 (11th Cir. 2022) (determining an earlier case's “prefatory statement” about a statute's operation was dictum because it wasn't germane to resolving the issues presented). To be sure, that President Nixon delegated to the Special Prosecutor (via the regulation) the power to "determin[e] whether or not to contest the assertion of 'Executive Privilege' or any other testimonial privilege,” 38 Fed. Reg. 30,739, amended by 38 Fed. Reg. 32,805, was integral to Nixon's justiciability holding. 418 U.S. at 694–97. This delegation assured the Supreme Court that "concrete adverseness" existed between the parties. Id. at 697 (quoting Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. at 204); see id. at 696 (explaining that “[s] o long as this regulation remains in force the Executive Branch is bound by it”). In other words, two features were essential to the justiciability holding: (1) the nature of the parties' relationship as defined in the very broad delegation of authority in the regulation; and (2) the fact that the regulation had not been revoked. But Nixon's passing reference to statutory authority was not essential to the analysis, and nothing in the remainder of the decision suggests that the Supreme Court was reasoning from its earlier passing 63 63

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 64 of 93 remark. 51 See Sarnoff v. Am. Home Prod. Corp., 798 F.2d 1075, 1084 (7th Cir. 1986) (Posner, J.) (defining as "dictum” a “statement in a judicial opinion that could have been deleted without seriously impairing the analytical foundations of the holding—that, being peripheral, may not have received the full and careful consideration of the court that uttered it"). D. As dictum, Nixon's statement is unpersuasive. Having determined that the disputed passage from Nixon is dictum, the Court considers the appropriate weight to accord it. In this circuit, Supreme Court dictum which is "well thought out, thoroughly reasoned, and carefully articulated" is due near-precedential weight. Schwab, 451 F.3d at 1325-26 (collecting cases); Peterson, 124 F.3d at 1392 n.4. Additionally, courts are bound by Supreme Court dictum where it “is of recent vintage and not enfeebled by any subsequent statement.” Id. at 1326 (quoting McCoy v. Mass. Inst. of Tech., 950 F.2d 13, 19 (1st Cir. 1991)). The Nixon dictum is neither “thoroughly reasoned" nor “of recent vintage." Id. at 1325-26. For these reasons, the Court concludes it is not entitled to considerable weight. i. Nixon did not analyze the relevant statutes. First, Nixon does not engage in any statutory analysis of the cited provisions. Although Nixon "gave passing reference to the cited statutes," the opinion “provided no analysis of those provisions' text." Trump, 144 S. Ct. at 2351 (Thomas, J., concurring). Indeed, the extent of Nixon's discussion of the statutes comes in a single sentence: "[Congress] vested in [the Attorney General] the power to appoint subordinate officers to assist him in the discharge of his duties. 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533.” 418 U.S. at 694. No more is provided. Thus, giving Nixon's dictum near-precedential weight in resolving the Motion-which calls for a thorough analysis of 51 Nor can it be said that the Nixon Court's own language—“acting pursuant to [statutes]"- contains any substantive commentary on the validity of the cited statutes for appointment purposes [ECF No. 647 pp. 116-117 (Meese amici argument)]. 64

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 65 of 93 the statutory text-runs the risk that the Supreme Court's "language will take on importance in a new context that its drafters could not have anticipated." Rudolph, 92 F.4th at 1045. ii. Nixon was decided prior to the development of recent Appointments Clause jurisprudence. Second, Nixon was decided in 1974. In the subsequent half century, the Supreme Court has placed a renewed emphasis on structural principles underpinning the Appointments Clause, beginning with Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), and continuing through various other important cases. See generally Calabresi & Lawson, supra at 124–25 (examining the "rebirth of the Appointments Clause"); Freytag, 501 U.S. at 878; Edmond, 520 U.S. at 659–60; Weiss, 510 U.S. at 182-189 (Souter, J., concurring); Arthrex, 594 U.S. at 12–14. These post-Nixon developments in Appointments Clause jurisprudence, and the Supreme Court's corresponding emphasis on structural principles behind that provision, lessen the force of the disputed dictum. iii. The out-of-circuit cases cited by the Special Counsel are equally unpersuasive. Special Counsel Smith cites two out-of-circuit appellate cases in support of his position that Nixon's statutory-authority statement is binding [ECF No. 374 pp. 9–10]. Both decisions determined that Nixon was dispositive on the statutory-authority question. Respectfully, the Court disagrees. Like Nixon, neither engaged with the text of the statutes at issue. The Court starts with In re Sealed Case, 829 F.2d 50 (D.C. Cir. 1987), which concerned a challenge to Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's prosecution of the Iran-Contra scandal. As authority for creation of the "Office of Independent Counsel: Iran/Contra," the Attorney General cited 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, and 5 U.S.C. § 301. 829 F.2d at 55; see 28 C.F.R. § 601. Despite expressly stating that "these provisions”—that is, 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, and 5 U.S.C. § 301 "do not explicitly authorize the Attorney General to create an Office of Independent 65

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 66 of 93 Counsel virtually free of ongoing oversight,” the circuit court nevertheless "read them as accommodating the delegation at issue here.” Id. at 55 (emphasis added). And then the court stated, in an attached footnote, that Nixon "presupposed the validity of a regulation appointing the Special Prosecutor.” Id. at 55 n.30 (emphasis added). No analysis of the statutes was provided. 52 More recently, in In re Grand Jury Investigation, 916 F.3d 1047 (D.C. Cir. 2019), the same circuit court addressed a challenge to the authority of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a contemporary special counsel serving in a role akin to that of Special Counsel Smith. The court characterized the abbreviated statutory-authority remarks from Nixon and In re Sealed Case as binding, viewing them as necessary “antecedents" to those cases' holdings. Id. at 1053-54. And then, relying on those remarks, the court found no further analysis of the statutes to be necessary. Id. at 1054 ("Because binding precedent establishes that Congress has 'by law' vested authority in the Attorney General to appoint the Special Counsel as an inferior officer, this court has no need to go further to identify the specific sources of this authority."). As the foregoing discussion demonstrates, the decisions in In re Sealed Case and In re Grand Jury Investigation relied on "presuppositions” and “antecedents” to determine that Nixon- which itself did not engage with the applicable statutory text- -was dispositive and foreclosed any statutory challenge. But as explained above, the Supreme Court has cautioned that "presuppositions” and “antecedents" of this sort "are not binding in future cases that directly raise the questions." Verdugo-Urquidez, 494 U.S. at 272. Unlike Nixon, this case does “directly raise" 52 There may be other reasons to doubt the persuasive force of In re Sealed Case's holding. See Calabresi & Lawson, supra at 125-27 (arguing that the appellant in that case, Lt. Col. Oliver North, focused on the preemptive effect of the Independent Counsel Act, without raising a frontal challenge to the Attorney General's appointment authority under the relied-upon statutes). 66 66

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 67 of 93 the statutory-authority question. And because neither of the out-of-circuit cases considered this question in a meaningful way, the Court does not find them persuasive here. In sum, the prefatory, passing remark in Nixon about 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533, does not stand as binding precedent for a point that was not raised, argued, disputed, or analyzed in that case, even if possibly assumed. See Legal Servs. Corp. v. Velazquez, 531 U.S. 533, 557 (2001) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (collecting cases); Webster, 266 U.S. at 511. Nor would such a treatment accord with the tailored manner in which the Supreme Court has defined and described its own Appointments Clause holdings in reference to the questions actually before it in those decisions. 53 V. Principal versus Inferior Officer Designation This brings the Court to its final point on the Appointments Clause challenge, prior to addressing remedy. Up to this juncture, the Court has proceeded under the premise, advanced by Special Counsel Smith, that he is an "inferior Officer," not a principal officer requiring Presidential nomination and Senatorial consent [ECF No. 405 pp. 6–12]. Defendants and the Meese amici contest this assertion, and it is a point worthy of consideration given the virtually unchecked power given to Special Counsel Smith under the Special Counsel Regulations. Ultimately, however, after examining the broad language in Supreme Court cases on the subject—and seeing a mixed picture, 53 Freytag, 501 U.S. at 890 (“The appointment authority of the 'Courts of Law' was not before this Court in Buckley. Instead, we were concerned with whether the appointment of Federal Elections Commissioners by Congress was constitutional under the Appointments Clause."); Weiss, 510 U.S. at 173 (distinguishing prior cases that "simply do not speak to the issue" before the Court); Edmond, 520 U.S. at 665–66 (holding that the implied principal-officer designation in Freytag "does not control our decision here" where the question was squarely presented). The Supreme Court made this very point in a recently decided case, albeit not in the Appointments Clause context. See Campos-Chaves v. Garland, 144 S. Ct. 1637, 1651 (2024) (explaining that a prior opinion's statement on the meaning of a statutory provision was dicta because that point "was not at issue," and the Court "did not reach out to decide today's question in that case"). 67

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 68 of 93 even if a compelling one in favor of a principal designation—the Court elects, with reservations, to reject the principal-officer submission and to leave the matter for review by higher courts. A. Arguments of Parties The arguments on the Motion, developed further during argument, are as follows. Special Counsel Smith contends that he is an inferior officer because he is "subject to supervision and oversight by other officers appointed by the President with Senate consent" [ECF No. 405 p. 6]. He cites to Morrison and Edmond for this proposition, stressing the following factors: (1) he is subject to removal by a higher Executive branch official for good cause, as was the case for the now-defunct independent counsel; (2) he is empowered to perform “limited duties" within a "limited" jurisdiction that is temporary and expires when his charge is over; (3) he “reports to and is supervised by the Attorney General” based on the terms of the Special Counsel Regulations; and (4) when all else fails, the Attorney General can remove the extant regulation and create at-will removal by amending or eliminating the regulation, or amending the Appointment Order itself [ECF No. 405 pp. 6–8]. Defendants and the Meese amici take the principal-officer view, urging that Special Counsel Smith wields the same authority as a United States Attorney per the Regulations, without a functional superior supervising or directing him, and without the important tool of at-will removal [ECF No. 326 p. 9 ("The authority he attempts to employ as Special Counsel far exceeds the power exercisable by a non-superior officer, authority that Congress has not cloaked him with."); ECF No. 647 p. 7 (adopting Meese principal-officer argument); ECF No. 611 p. 3 (“At bottom, former President Trump and amici argue the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional insofar as Smith is a “principal officer," whose appointment must come from 88 68

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 69 of 93 the President alone with the advice and consent of the Senate."); ECF No. 364-1 pp. 20-22 (citing Calabresi & Lawson, supra at 128–134); ECF No. 647 pp. 25–32]. B. Legal Standards The Supreme Court has "not purport[ed] to set forth a definitive test" for distinguishing between principal and inferior officers, although the relevant cases, principally Morrison and Edmond, provide informative markers. Edmond, 520 U.S. at 661; Morrison, 487 U.S. at 671. In Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), the Court considered the status of the now- defunct independent counsel under the former Independent Counsel Act. The Court was careful "not [to] attempt to decide exactly where the line falls between the two types of officers," but it enumerated the following four factors in route to “clearly” determining that the independent counsel fell on the inferior side of that line: (1) she was "subject to removal by a higher Executive Branch official," even though she was not "subordinate” to the Attorney General given her “independent discretion"; (2) she was “empowered by the Act to perform only certain, limited duties,” which did not include formulation of policy; (3) her office was “limited in jurisdiction” as determined by the judicial division; and (4) her office was “limited in tenure” insofar as she was "appointed essentially to accomplish a single task." Id. at 671-672. Justice Scalia criticized this view in dissent, arguing that the independent counsel was not "subordinate to another officer" and was removable only for good cause. Id. at 723 (Scalia, J., dissenting). Almost ten years later in Edmond v. United States, 520 U.S. 651 (1997), the Supreme Court fleshed out the principal versus inferior officer inquiry in a case involving judges of the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals. The bulk of the majority's analysis is contained in the passage quoted below, although further important considerations-removability at will and power to render final decisions-feature in the decision too: 69 69

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 70 of 93 Generally speaking, the term 'inferior officer' connotes a relationship with some higher ranking officer or officers below the President: Whether one is an “inferior” officer depends on whether he has a superior. It is not enough that other officers may be identified who formally maintain a higher rank, or possess responsibilities of a greater magnitude. If that were the intention, the Constitution might have used the phrase "lesser officer." Rather, in the context of a Clause designed to preserve political accountability relative to important Government assignments, we think it evident that "inferior officers" are officers whose work is directed and supervised at some level by others who were appointed by Presidential nomination with the advice and consent of the Senate. Id. at 662–63. Continuing forward, the decision stressed that “[t]he power to remove officers. . . is a powerful tool for control," noting the parties' concession that the judicial officer at issue was removable without cause. Id. at 664 (citing Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714, 727 (1986), and Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1926)). And then, the Supreme Court commented on the degree to which an officer's decisions can be “reverse[d]" or countermanded by a higher entity or officer, ultimately concluding that the judges at issue remained inferior, because their decisions still were reviewed by a higher court, and because they lacked "power to render a final decision on behalf of the United States unless permitted to do so by other Executive officers." Id. at 665. From these two decisions, courts have distilled three key factors in evaluating the inferior- principal question: (1) whether an officer is subject to substantial supervision and direction of a principal officer; (2) whether an officer is removable without cause perhaps the weightiest factor; and (3) whether an officer's decisions are subject to reversal by a supervisor in the executive branch. See Intercollegiate Broad. Sys., Inc. v. Copyright Royalty Bd., 684 F.3d 1332, 1338 (D.C. Cir. 2012); Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 613. Again, however, the Supreme Court “has been careful not to create a rigid test” for discerning between the two types 70 70

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 71 of 93 of officers, instead employing what appears to be a "case-by-case analysis." Arthrex, 594 U.S. at 47 (Thomas, J., dissenting).54 C. Discussion Against this backdrop, the Court examines whether Special Counsel Smith is a principal or inferior officer under the operative regulatory framework and available Supreme Court standards.55 i. Factual Development As a preliminary matter, the parties agree that the Court should evaluate the principal versus inferior question, and indeed the entire Appointments Clause dispute, as a matter of law in accordance with the powers and authority delineated in the operative Special Counsel Regulations and applicable statutes [ECF No. 619 p. 1; ECF No. 620 pp. 8–12; see ECF No. 617 pp. 7–13]. The Court expresses some hesitation in this regard and lacks a detailed understanding of the actual extent and mechanics of supervision and control over Special Counsel Smith." Nevertheless, 56 54 Post-Edmond, the viability of Morrison has been called into question. See, e.g., N.L.R.B. v. SW Gen., Inc., 580 U.S. 288, 315 (2017) (Thomas, J., concurring) (“Although we did not explicitly overrule Morrison in Edmond, it is difficult to see how Morrison's nebulous approach survived our opinion in Edmond. Edmond is also consistent with the Constitution's original meaning and therefore should guide our view of the principal-inferior distinction."); Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 617 & n.8 (citing cases and scholarship). Nonetheless, because it has not been overruled, the Court proceeds to apply the Morrison test alongside Edmond. Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/Am. Exp., Inc., 490 U.S. 477, 484 (1989) (stressing the Supreme Court's "prerogative of overruling its own decisions"). Defendants have not argued for the overruling of Morrison in this court, although the matter was raised at argument by the Landmark Legal amici [ECF No. 647 p. 112; ECF No. 364-1 (criticizing Morrison)]. 55 The Court notes that neither party raises a direct challenge to the validity of the Special Counsel Regulations, which have remained in effect without change since their promulgation in 1999. 56 Cf. Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 610-612 (appearing to express a similar lack of clarity on degree of Attorney General's countermanding authority and extent to which Department's policies shaped special counsel's actions). 71

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 72 of 93 neither party pressed for an evidentiary hearing on the Appointments Clause issue; the Special Counsel appears to have taken the questionable position that such inquiries intrude upon privileged Department deliberations; and the Court generally agrees that judicial treatment of Appointments Clause challenges has tracked the level of supervision and direction by reference to statutes and/or regulations only. 57 The Court thus proceeds accordingly, referencing the regulatory framework in effect at the time of the subject Appointment Order and in force today. Nixon, 418 U.S. at 695 ("So long as this regulation is extant it has the force of law.") (citing United States ex rel. Accardi v. Shaughnessy, 347 U.S. 260, 265 (1954)); see Serv. v. Dulles, 354 U.S. 363, 372 (1957). ii. The Special Counsel Regulations impose almost no supervision or direction over the Special Counsel and give him broad power to render final decisions on behalf of the United States. The Special Counsel Regulations give to the special counsel an exceedingly broad charge to "exercise, within the scope of his or her jurisdiction, the full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States attorney," 28 C.F.R. § 600.6—and then impose virtually no mechanism for supervision or control by the Attorney General. Several key features inform this view, tracking the regulations on the subjects of consultation, supervision, and countermanding (with removal to follow later): First, a special counsel is under no regulatory obligation to consult with the Attorney General "about the conduct of his or her duties and responsibilities.” 28 C.F.R. § 600.6. Quite the 57 What is more, during the hearing, and specifically during questioning about the Special Counsel's degree of direction and supervision vis-à-vis the Attorney General, counsel for the Special Counsel refused to answer the Court's questions regarding whether the Attorney General had played any actual role in seeking or approving the indictment in this case [ECF No. 647 pp. 147–151]. In doing so, counsel appeared to invoke a deliberative process privilege or other "standard Justice Department [policy]," although none of the Court's questions solicited the substance of any internal deliberations [ECF No. 647 pp. 147–151]. Ultimately, counsel for the Special Counsel appeared to acknowledge some degree of actual oversight consistent with the Regulations, but again resisted any further representation [ECF No. 647 p. 148]. 72

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 73 of 93 opposite, it is up to the special counsel to determine whether to "inform or consult with the Attorney General or others within the Department about the conduct of his or her duties and responsibilities." Id. Second, a special counsel must "comply with the rules, regulations, procedures, and practices and policies of the Department,” and he shall "consult with appropriate offices within the Department for guidance with respect to [those] established practices.” 28 C.F.R. § 600.7(a). But nothing in that general policy-consultation directive a directive that applies only to consultation with "appropriate offices within the Department" about general Department-wide policies― appears to limit a special counsel's specific decision-making in conducting his investigation and prosecution. Third, still on the subject of consultation, the Regulations give full discretion to the special counsel whether to "consult directly with the Attorney General" even when the special counsel "conclude[s] that the extraordinary circumstances of any particular decision would render compliance with required review and approval procedures by the designated Departmental component inappropriate.” Id. § 600.7(a). So even in those difficult circumstances, the special counsel is the one to decide "whether to consult directly with the Attorney General," again leaving no mandatory consultation in the regulations themselves. Id. Fourth, turning to mechanisms for "notification" between the special counsel and the Attorney General, the Regulations require the special counsel to “notify the Attorney General of events in the course of his or her investigation in conformity with the Departmental guidelines with respect to Urgent Reports." Id. § 600.8. But nothing in that provision actually requires the special counsel to do anything other than to “notify" the Attorney General of certain developments. See Justice Manual 1-13.000 (providing non-exhaustive list of “major developments,” but 73

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 74 of 93 explaining that Urgent Reports impose only a “reporting,” “notice requirement” that “should not interrupt, alter, or delay the normal conduct and pursuit of any matter or case"). And nothing in that provision provides the Attorney General with any authority to actually countermand, direct, or supervise those significant decisions. Fifth, and finally, the Regulations expressly remove day-to-day supervision and provide almost no countermanding authority for the Attorney General. Edmond, 520 U.S. at 665 (focusing on judges' power to "render a final decision on behalf of the United States unless permitted to do so by other Executive officers"). The pertinent regulation in this area is the “conduct and accountability" section in 28 C.F.R. § 600.7(b), quoted in full below: The Special Counsel shall not be subject to the day-to-day supervision of any official of the Department. However, the Attorney General may request that the Special Counsel provide an explanation for any investigative or prosecutorial step, and may after review conclude that the action is so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental practices that it should not be pursued. In conducting that review, the Attorney General will give great weight to the views of the Special Counsel. If the Attorney General concludes that a proposed action by a Special Counsel should not be pursued, the Attorney General shall notify Congress as specified in § 600.9(a)(3). Id. § 600.7(b). This provision, reduced to its essence, leaves the Attorney General a very slim route to countermand a decision by the special counsel, but only when the decision is "so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental policies"; only after the Attorney General has given—as a mandatory matter—"great weight to the views of the Special Counsel"; and subject to a strict congressional notification requirement that mandates the Attorney General notify Congress of his "countermanding" decision at the conclusion of the investigation. Id. § 600.7(b); id. § 600.9(a)(3) (requiring Attorney General to describe and explain to Congress "instances" in which he concluded "that a proposed action by a Special Counsel was so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental practices that it should not be 74

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 75 of 93 pursued"). It is hard to see how this amounts to any meaningful direction or supervision. And it certainly does not mean that the Special Counsel lacks the power to render final decisions on behalf of the United States. Edmond, 520 U.S. at 652. In sum, this framework does not lend itself to a finding that Special Counsel Smith's "work is directed and supervised at some level" by the Attorney General-unless the “at some level" qualifier in Edmond is read in an exceedingly broad way. 520 U.S. at 663. iii. The limitations on the Attorney General's power to remove the Special Counsel support principal status under Edmond but maybe not under Morrison. The Court now turns to the Attorney General's power to remove Special Counsel Smith. "The power to remove officers at will and without cause is a powerful tool for control.” Edmond, 520 U.S. at 663. This element features prominently in Edmond, which relied heavily on at-will removal in finding inferior-officer status, but it also appears in Morrison, where the Supreme Court classified an independent counsel as an inferior officer even without at-will removal. Morrison, 487 U.S. at 671, 691–92 (referring to 28 U.S.C. § 596(a)(1), and concluding that the Act's "good cause" removal provision did not “impermissibly burden[] the President's power to control or supervise the independent counsel"). The particular removal provision in the Special Counsel Regulations reads as follows: The Special Counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the Attorney General. The Attorney General may remove a Special Counsel for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies. The Attorney General shall inform the Special Counsel in writing of the specific reason for his or her removal. 75

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 76 of 93 28 C.F.R. § 600.7(d). “Good cause” is a far-reaching term that is difficult to define. See Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 613. What is clear, however, is that the Regulations do not afford the Attorney General “at will” removal power. 58 So what to make about the removal limitations in this case? On this point, the Court agrees with the United States District Court in Concord Management that the Special Counsel Regulations afford “more substantial protection against removal, and thus risk rendering him a principal officer," for the reasons stated in that decision and also referenced above. Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 613-14 (citing cases). The Court need not expound on the analysis further except to underscore the Supreme Court's strong emphasis on at-will removal as a "powerful tool for control." Edmond, 520 U.S. at 664 (citing Bowsher, 478 U.S. at 727; Myers, 272 U.S. 52 (1926)). But of course, Morrison deemed the independent counsel an inferior officer despite a good-cause removal restriction-albeit in the context of a multi-factored approach that did not purport to delineate the “line” between principal and inferior officers. 487 U.S. at 671. And so, while it seems the absence of at-will removal is a key feature that—when combined with the absence of any meaningful supervision or countermanding authority—likely could transform Special Counsel Smith into a principal officer, the Court holds off on that view to allow whatever evaluation of this topic may be conducted by higher courts. iv. The possibility of a future rescission of the Special Counsel Regulations to create at-will removal does not change the Appointments Clause inquiry under current law. There is one final issue to discuss as relates to removal. It concerns the Special Counsel's fall-back position that none of the removal limitations in the Regulations pose an impediment to inferior-officer status, because the Attorney General can rescind or amend the Regulations at will 58 United States Attorneys are removable at will. 28 U.S.C. § 541(c). 76

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 77 of 93 (and without notice-and-comment), or can amend or revoke the Appointment Order. In a nutshell, the submission is as follows: evaluate the constitutional status of the Special Counsel's position in accordance with the extant regulatory framework, as a matter of law, but if the removal issue gets too sticky, customize that framework and consider the matter under a hypothetical future scenario where the regulation as it stands today (with its removal restrictions) does not exist [see ECF No. 405 pp. 11–12; ECF No. 647 pp. 151-52]. In other words, rely on the Regulations for some things, but discard or amend them at least partially should they cast into doubt the Special Counsel's inferior-officer status. This regulatory cherry-picking seems questionable as a means to resolve the inferior- principal Appointments Clause question, although the Court admits of uncertainty in this regard, and some courts have accepted the revocability piece as “crucial” in permitting an inferior-officer designation in similar contexts. Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC, 317 F. Supp. 3d at 615 (quoting In re Sealed Case, 829 F.2d at 56)). Of course, regulations can be amended subject to ordinary legal principles and any applicable restraints. But regulations have the force of law so long as they remain operative, which they are here. Nixon, 418 U.S. at 695 (“So long as this regulation is extant it has the force of law.") (citing Accardi, 347 U.S. at 265); see Dulles, 354 U.S. at 372 (describing Accardi as supporting notion that “regulations validly prescribed by a government administrator are binding upon him as well as the citizen even when the administrative action under review is discretionary in nature"). The question, then, is not whether regulations can be rescinded or amended; they can be. Rather, the question is whether Special Counsel Smith is a principal or inferior officer under the Appointments Clause. And that inquiry, it seems to this Court, must operate on the basis of extant law (a point on which the Special Counsel otherwise agrees)—not on some possible future material change to the removal limitations that 77

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 78 of 93 has not happened (and that frankly has not happened since the Regulations came into existence in 1999). If the matter were otherwise, the practical result becomes one of “regulatory shielding” almost, in a figurative sense; an officer without authority to act as a principal officer exercises a principal-officer role, but no means exist to judicially test that constitutional noncompliance because the reviewing court-despite finding principal status in the present tense—must suspend reality and reject the challenge on the basis of something other than the operative regulations. Such slipperiness would not be permitted if the officer were acting pursuant to statute; the court would review the extant law in a fixed manner, as is normally the case in Appointments Clause challenges with statutory law, not through shifting regulations or appointment orders untied to statutory authority. All of this simply underscores the need for Congress to enact “Law” in conformity with the Appointments Clause. Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. V. The Special Counsel's defined jurisdiction and tenure present a mixed and candidly unhelpful picture. The final component of the Court's inferior-officer analysis concerns Special Counsel Smith's jurisdiction and tenure. While Edmond did not stress these features, the Morrison court considered them in reaching its inferior-officer conclusion. Morrison, 487 U.S. at 672 (finding the Independent Counsel's office was “limited in jurisdiction” and “limited in tenure”). What they yield here is muddled and likely not dispositive. Special Counsel Smith's jurisdiction is described in a factual statement in the Appointment Order. 59 His jurisdiction is thus “limited" in the manner described by the Attorney General—as 59 Order No. 5559-2022 (“The Special Counsel is further authorized to conduct the ongoing investigation referenced and described in the United States' Response to Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief, Donald J. Trump v. United States, No. 9:22-CV-81294-AMC (S.D. Fla. Aug. 30, 2022) (ECF No. 48 at 5-13), as well as any matters that arose or may arise directly from this investigation or that are within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4."). 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a) (adding authority to investigate and prosecute perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction 78

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 79 of 93 compared, for example, to a United States Attorney with jurisdiction to investigate any violation of federal criminal law throughout a designated federal district. But the Special Counsel's powers within his jurisdiction are exceedingly broad, indeed as broad as those possessed by a United States Attorney. See Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Att'y Gen., Address at the Second Annual Conference of United States Attorneys: The Federal Prosecutor 2 (Apr. 1, 1940) (referencing the might and discretion of prosecutors and their ability to "strike at citizens, not with mere individual strength, but with all the force of government itself”). And in some degree, the Special Counsel's powers are arguably broader than a traditional United States Attorney, as he is permitted to exercise his investigatory powers across multiple districts within the same investigation. So is he really exercising “limited” jurisdiction? And what is the “unlimited” jurisdictional benchmark to which his work ought to be compared? The answers are hazy. In any event, an officer's scope of work, even if limited, is not dispositive of the jurisdictional inquiry. As Justice Scalia said of the independent counsel in Morrison: As to the scope of her jurisdiction, there can be no doubt that is small (though far from unimportant). But within it she exercises more than the full power of the Attorney General. The Ambassador to Luxembourg is not anything less than a principal officer, simply because Luxembourg is small. And the federal judge who sits in a small district is not for that reason "inferior in rank and authority." If the mere fragmentation of executive responsibilities into small compartments suffices to render the heads of each of those compartments inferior officers, then Congress could deprive the President of the right to appoint his chief law enforcement officer by dividing up the Attorney General's responsibilities among a number of “lesser" functionaries. Morrison, 487, U.S. at 718 (Scalia, J., dissenting). of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses, along with authority to conduct appeals out of matters "investigated and/or prosecuted"). As noted supra, the Appointment Order also authorizes Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute federal crimes arising from an unrelated electoral matter. Order No. 5559-2022. That prosecution is the subject of a separate proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 12 79

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 80 of 93 As to tenure, while it is true that Special Counsel Smith's position will end “[a]t the conclusion" of his "work," see 28 C.F.R. § 600.8(c), whenever that happens, that circumstance does not equate to a “limited tenure” in a meaningful sense. Nor is it clear what the “unlimited tenure" benchmark is, or how to measure it in real terms. What is known, however, is that the Special Counsel has been operating since November 2022; he has established a very significant operation in terms of staffing and resources; his direct expenditures exceeded $12.8 million as of close to a year ago (September 2023); and nothing in the Regulations, the Appointment Order, or the record more generally provides a concrete sunset provision for the cessation of his work. Bringing these factors together jurisdiction and tenure—the Court attempts to surmise the following: (1) the Special Counsel's jurisdiction is “limited” if “limited jurisdiction” means something less than the general jurisdiction exercised by a United States Attorney to prosecute any federal crime in one district (but see unlimited geographical reach in Appointment Order), and (2) the Special Counsel's tenure is “limited” if “limited in tenure" requires an open-ended appointment, perhaps with a fixed number of years. 28 U.S.C. § 541 (United States Attorneys serving four-term terms). The disposition of these factors is unclear, but they remain in the amalgam of considerations in Supreme Court caselaw. *** For the above reasons, the Court sees compelling reasons to reach a principal-officer designation. But because the answer under current Supreme Court precedent is not self-evident, and because this Court need not rely on this ground to dispose of the Appointments Clause challenge in the Motion, the Court elects to leave the matter for future review. Of course, however, 80 60

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 81 of 93 should it be determined that Special Counsel Smith is a principal officer, his appointment would violate the Appointments Clause without question. Art. II. § 2, cl. 2.60 VI. Remedy for Appointments Clause Violation The Court turns lastly to the remedial question: what to do about the absence of “Law” authorizing Special Counsel Smith's appointment? Defendants seek dismissal of the Superseding Indictment, arguing that “Jack Smith lacks the authority to prosecute this action,” and that "any actions [thus] taken by Smith are ultra vires" [ECF No. 326 pp. 1, 9, 13; see ECF No. 414 p. 10; see ECF No. 364-1 (Meese amici)]. Special Counsel Smith opposes Defendants' request on the merits but fails to propose any alternative form of relief or to respond on the substance of the remedial question [see ECF No. 374; ECF No. 432 p. 9 n.5 (“Because the Special Counsel is an officer authorized to carry out the prosecution in this case, the Court has no reason to consider 60 The Landmark Legal amici argue that Special Counsel Smith is merely an “employee” not subject to the Appointments Clause [ECF No. 410-2]. This position is based primarily on the view that the Special Counsel's position is not sufficiently “continuous" to warrant treatment as an officer [ECF No. 410-2 pp. 11–15]. Neither party advances this contention, and the Court disagrees with it. By any measure, Special Counsel Smith is "exercis[ing] significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States." Buckley, 424 U.S. at 126. This is clear from the operative regulations, 28 C.F.R. § 600.6, which empower him to act with the full scope and power of a United States Attorney within his jurisdiction. Although the Supreme Court's decision in Lucia does emphasize continuity as a factor distinguishing officers from employees, it does so in the context of a comparison to “occasional” and “temporary duties," and it does not purport to establish bright lines on the degree of continuity. 585 U.S. at 245 (comparing continuing and permanent offices as distinct from temporary and episodic duties). Moreover, Lucia supports the continued vitality of the Buckley test, which no one disputes is satisfied by Special Counsel Smith. For these reasons, although Special Counsel Smith is not “permanent” in the forever sense because his jurisdiction will conclude at whatever unspecified time it concludes, his role clearly is not the sort of episodic, transient position that would make someone an employee under Germaine, 99 U.S. at 511-512 (holding that civil surgeons who were hired to perform exams intermittently were employees only). The Court notes that neither the Regulations nor the Appointment Order sets a time limit on Special Counsel Smith's appointment, which is approaching two years in duration. And United States Attorneys serve four-year terms, 28 U.S.C. § 541(b), which are continuing even if not permanent. 81

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 82 of 93 whether the Special Counsel action's to date are ‘salvageable' under the De Factor [sic] Officer doctrine.")].61 Because Special Counsel Smith's exercise of prosecutorial power has not been authorized by law, the Court sees no way forward aside from dismissal of the Superseding Indictment. And the Special Counsel does not propose an alternative course. "[O]ne who makes a timely challenge to the constitutional validity of the appointment of an officer. . .' is entitled to relief." Lucia, 585 U.S. at 251 (2018) (quoting Ryder, 515 U.S. at 182-83). In such cases, which necessarily involve a "Government actor's exercise of power that the actor did not lawfully possess," the proper remedy is invalidation of the ultra vires action. Collins v. Yellen, 594 U.S. 220, 258 (2021) (collecting cases); see id. at 276-83 (Gorsuch, J., concurring). Invalidation "follows directly from the government actor's lack of authority to take the challenged action in the first place. That is, winning the merits of the constitutional challenge is enough." Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau v. All Am. Check Cashing, Inc., 33 F.4th 218, 241 (5th 61 Insofar as the Special Counsel may argue that additional briefing on remedy is warranted, the Court explains the record and notes the Special Counsel's full and fair opportunity to brief the matter of remedy. This action presents a challenging array of issues, almost all of which are resolutely contested; the parties require no prompting before objecting, opposing, and otherwise engaging in "spirited” exchanges. With respect to the instant Motion itself, both the Special Counsel and Defendant Trump submitted briefing; amicus briefs were received; and a lengthy hearing occurred. Yet startlingly, the Special Counsel submitted nothing on the topic of the proper remedy for the Appointments Clause issue, despite challenging dismissal as a remedy in the Appropriations Clause context [ECF No. 374 pp. 22-23 (disputing dismissal and referencing alternative sources of funding); see ECF No. 671 (response to supplemental authority agreeing to supplemental briefing “on the immunity issue" and nothing more)]. Instead, counsel for the Special Counsel remarked at the hearing, in response to a question about remedy in the Appropriations Clause context, that: "to the extent that the Court is seriously entertaining the notion that there is a constitutional or funding problem, I actually think it would behoove the Court and the parties to have some additional briefing” [ECF No. 648 p. 44]. This last-minute reference to conditional supplemental briefing at the hearing-only if the Court disagreed with the Special Counsel on the merits—in no way signals a lack of a full and fair opportunity given to all parties to brief their positions. Nor does it establish any prejudice from an alleged deprivation of a chance to respond on the plainly important issue of the proper remedy for the Appointments Clause matter. 82 82

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 83 of 93 Cir. 2022) (Jones, J., concurring). 62 In light of these remedial principles—and because the Court concludes that Special Counsel Smith's appointment violates the Appointments Clause-the actions of Special Counsel Smith in connection with this proceeding must be set aside. The Supreme Court's decision in Lucia v. SEC, 585 U.S. 237 (2018), serves as the best comparator for remedy purposes. In Lucia, the petitioner-a business owner who had been sanctioned by an administrative law judge for securities violations-raised a timely challenge to the validity of the judge's appointment. Id. at 243-44. The Supreme Court sided with the petitioner, concluding that the judge's appointment was constitutionally defective under the Appointments Clause. Id. at 251. Because the judge “heard and decided [the petitioner's] case without the kind of appointment the Clause requires,” the Court ruled that “the 'appropriate' remedy for an adjudication tainted with an appointments violation is a new ‘hearing before a properly appointed' official." Id. at 251 (quoting Ryder, 515 U.S. at 183, 188). In other words, Lucia undid the unlawful action by granting petitioner a new hearing before a constitutionally appointed officer. Here, as in Lucia, the appropriate remedy is invalidation of the officer's ultra vires acts. Since November 2022, Special Counsel Smith has been exercising "power that [he] did not lawfully possess." Collins, 594 U.S. at 258. All actions that flowed from his defective appointment—including his seeking of the Superseding Indictment on which this proceeding 62 Collins distinguished these situations from other separation-of-powers cases involving laws containing improper removal provisions. 594 U.S. at 257–59. In those cases, the proper remedy is often to sever the violative removal provision from the rest of the law. See Seila L. LLC v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau, 591 U.S. 197, 232-38 (2020); Free Enter. Fund v. Pub. Co. Acct. Oversight Bd., 561 U.S. 477, 508–10 (2010). Full-scale invalidation is not necessary to rectify the harm in such cases because “the unlawfulness of the removal provision does not strip" a lawfully appointed government actor "of the power to undertake the responsibilities of his office." Collins, 594 U.S. at 258 n.23. That is not the case here, where the matter goes to the core of appointment. 83

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 84 of 93 currently hinges [ECF No. 85]—were unlawful exercises of executive power. Because Special Counsel Smith "cannot wield executive power except as Article II provides," his “[a]ttempts to do so are void" and must be unwound. Id. at 283 (Gorsuch, J., concurring). Defendants advance this very argument: "any actions taken by Smith are ultra vires and the Superseding Indictment must be dismissed" [ECF No. 326 p. 9]. And the Court sees no alternative course to cure the unconstitutional problem. It bears noting that Special Counsel Smith's work cannot be salvaged by the de facto officer doctrine, which, in some circumstances, "confers validity upon acts performed by a person acting under the color of official title even though it is later discovered that the legality of that person's appointment or election to office is deficient." Ryder, 518 U.S. at 180 (citing Norton v. Shelby County, 118 U.S. 425, 440 (1886)). For two reasons, that doctrine does not apply here.63 First, the doctrine is designed to address "technical defects in title to office." Ryder, 518 U.S. at 180 (internal quotations marks omitted); see Nguyen v. United States, 539 U.S. 69, 77–78 (2003). Here, the problem is no mere "technical defect”—instead, the problem is the absence of a statutorily created office to fill in the first place. As the Supreme Court has made clear, “there can be no officer, either de jure or de facto, if there is no office to fill." Norton, 118 U.S. at 441. Second, the de facto officer doctrine has not been applied in cases, like this one, where a litigant raises a timely constitutional challenge to an officer's appointment. See Ryder, 539 U.S. at 182-83 ("We think that one who makes a 63 The de facto officer doctrine was covered noncommittally in the Landmark Legal amici's brief [ECF No. 410-2 pp. 23-24]. The Special Counsel offered a non-response in a footnote: "Because the Special Counsel is an officer authorized to carry out the prosecution in this case, the Court has no reason to consider whether the Special Counsel's actions to date are 'salvageable' under the De Factor [stet] Officer doctrine” [ECF No. 432 p. 9 n.5]. 84

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 85 of 93 timely challenge to the constitutional validity of the appointment of an officer who adjudicates his case is entitled to a decision on the merits of the question and whatever relief may be appropriate if a violation indeed occurred."); Lucia, 585 U.S. at 251. “Any other rule would create a disincentive to raise Appointments Clause challenges” in the face of questionable appointments. Ryder, 539 U.S. at 183; see Lucia, 585 U.S. at 251 n.5. Because Defendants timely raised their constitutional challenge to Special Counsel Smith's appointment, and because there can be no valid officer without a valid office, the Court sees no basis to resort to the de facto officer doctrine.64 APPROPRIATIONS CLAUSE DISCUSSION The Court turns next to Defendants' Appropriations Clause challenge [ECF No. 326 pp. 9– 14].65 Since its inception, Special Counsel Smith's office has been funded by “a permanent 64 The Supreme Court's decision in Off. of United States Tr. v. John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC, 144 S. Ct. 1588, 1595 (2024), is not to the contrary [See ECF No. 648 pp. 42–43]. That case involved how to remedy a “limited” Bankruptcy Clause problem flowing from a federal bankruptcy statute-not the constitutionality of an officer's appointment under the Appointments Clause. Id. (focusing on the "short lived and small" nature of the "constitutional problem"). More fundamentally, that case does not detract from the principle that “the nature of the violation determines the scope of the remedy." Id. (quoting Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Ed., 402 U.S. 1, 16 (1971)). Here, for all of the reasons stated, the only appropriate remedy for the preserved constitutional challenge under the Appointments Clause-a challenge that implicates separation of powers—is invalidation of the proceeding. 65 Defendants have Article III standing to raise their Appropriations Clause challenge. The Supreme Court has recognized that standing exists in “cases in which individuals sustain discrete, justiciable injury from actions that transgress separation-of-powers limitations.” Bond v. United States, 564 U.S. 211, 224 (2011); Collins, 594 U.S. at 245. Violations of the Appropriations Clause are one such example. See United States v. McIntosh, 833 F.3d 1163, 1173–74 (9th Cir. 2016) (holding that appellants "ha[d] standing to invoke separation-of-powers provisions of the Constitution" there, the Appropriations Clause—“to challenge their criminal prosecutions" prior to conviction); see United States v. Stone, 394 F. Supp. 3d 1, 19 n.13 (D.D.C. 2019). To the extent that Special Counsel Smith challenged Defendants' standing to raise this argument in his Opposition or attempted to cast the challenge as a non-constitutional claim, he declined to stand by those contentions at the hearing [ECF No. 648 pp. 46–48]. 85

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 86 of 93 indefinite appropriation . . . established within the Department of Justice to pay all necessary expenses of investigations and prosecutions by independent counsel appointed pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. 591 et seq. or other law." 101 Stat. 1329. But as discussed above, supra pp. 22-52, Special Counsel Smith was not lawfully “appointed pursuant to . . . other law." 101 Stat. 1329. This means that Special Counsel Smith's office—since November 2022―has been drawing funds from the Treasury without statutory authorization, in violation of the Appropriations Clause. I. Background Legal Principles The Appropriations Clause dictates that “[n]o Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” U.S. Const. Art. I, § 9, cl. 7. This "straightforward and explicit command . . . means simply that no money can be paid out of the Treasury unless it has been appropriated by an act of Congress." Office of Pers. Mgmt. v. Richmond, 496 U.S. 414, 424 (1990) (citation omitted). To pass constitutional muster, an appropriation "need only identify a source of public funds and authorize the expenditure of those funds for designated purposes.” CFPB v. Cmty. Fin. Servs. Ass'n of Am., Ltd., 601 U.S. 416, 426 (2024) ("CFPB").6 66 Defendants do not challenge the Indefinite Appropriation itself—only its applicability to Special Counsel Smith [ECF No. 326 pp. 12–14]. The Court expresses some uncertainty, however, about the legality of the purely "indefinite" nature of the appropriation, which by all accounts is uncapped and includes no monetary threshold or other formulaic limitation. It is not clear whether that feature, on its own, presents a constitutional defect under the Appropriations Clause. See CFPB, 601 U.S. at 425-41 (emphasizing repeatedly the “capped" nature of the CFPB's funding scheme in determining it complied with the Appropriations Clause); but see id. at 444 (Kagan, J., concurring) (identifying certain statutes that do not "designate specific sums of money"). All that said, the limitless nature of the appropriation, standing alone, was not squarely raised in this proceeding. 86

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 87 of 93 The Appropriations Clause plays a critical role in our constitutional scheme of separated powers. It is Congress not the executive or judicial branches-that controls government spending. "Any exercise of a power granted by the Constitution to one of the other branches of Government is limited by a valid reservation of congressional control over funds in the Treasury." Id. at 425. As a historical matter, “Congress's 'power over the purse' has been its 'most complete and effectual weapon' to ensure that the other branches do not exceed or abuse their authority." CFPB, 601 U.S. at 448 (Alito, J., concurring) (quoting The Federalist No. 58, p. 359 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (J. Madison)). See also Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau v. All Am. Check Cashing, Inc., 33 F.4th 218, 225-232 (5th Cir. 2022) (Jones, J., concurring) (discussing in detail the historical origins, and separation-of-powers underpinnings of the Appropriations Clause). II. Analysis By its terms, the Indefinite Appropriation is available only to “independent counsel[s] appointed pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 591 et seq. or other law." 101 Stat. 1329. The Independent Counsel Act expired in 1999, meaning that Special Counsel Smith must identify "other law" authorizing his appointment to access the Indefinite Appropriation. Both sides agree that “other law,” for present purposes, is the collection of statutes cited in the Appointment Order [ECF No. 648 pp. 5, 31]. For all of the reasons the Court found no statutory authority for the appointment, supra pp. 22-52, Special Counsel Smith's investigation has unlawfully drawn funds from the Indefinite Appropriation. 67 67 Nor do the Special Counsel Regulations serve as “other law" for purposes of access to the Indefinite Appropriation [ECF No. 374 p. 18 (arguing that 28 C.F.R. § 600 has “the force of law" for purposes of the Indefinite Appropriation); but see ECF No. 648 p. 31 (agreeing that “other law” in the Independent Appropriation refers to statutory law only)]. 87

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 88 of 93 Having found no "other law," the Court need not determine whether Special Counsel Smith is the type of "independent counsel" referenced in the Indefinite Appropriation [ECF No. 326 pp. 13-14 (arguing Smith is not sufficiently “independent" to access funds)].68 Nevertheless, the Court notes the inherent tension in the Special Counsel's position on this issue. In the Appointments Clause context-specifically, in arguing that he is an inferior (as opposed to principal) officer-Special Counsel Smith emphasizes the Attorney General's supervision and control over his work [ECF No. 374 p. 7 n.1; ECF No. 405]. Yet in the Appropriations Clause context, he asserts that he is sufficiently independent to draw funds from the Indefinite Appropriation [ECF No. 374 pp. 17-18]. In other words, Special Counsel Smith contends he is independent enough to access the funds, but not so independent to constitute a principal officer. Perhaps he threads that needle. But at least one source suggests otherwise. In 2004, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) approved of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's use of funds from the Indefinite Appropriation. Special Counsel and Permanent Indefinite Appropriation, B-302582, 2004 WL 2213560 (Sept. 30, 2024). The GAO's determination was grounded in Fitzgerald's “express exclusion . . . from the application of 28 C.F.R. Part 600 [i.e., the Special Counsel Regulations]," which allowed him to operate “independent of the supervision or control of any officer of the Department.” Id. at 3.69 Contrast Fitzgerald with Special Counsel 68 Were the Court required to conduct that analysis, it is unclear precisely how “independent” an "“independent counsel" must be to draw from the Indefinite Appropriation. The Court accepts, however, that independent counsels need not be strictly equivalent to the “Independent Counsels" authorized by the now-defunct EGA. See Stone, 394 F. Supp. 3d at 20–22. 69 Then-Acting Attorney General James Comey directed Special Counsel Fitzgerald to exercise his authority "independent of the supervision or control of any officer of the Department." Letter from Acting Attorney General James B. Comey to Patrick J. Fitzgerald (Dec. 30, 2003). In a later letter, Comey clarified that Fitzgerald's position as "Special Counsel” “should not be misunderstood to suggest that [his] position and authorities are defined and limited by 28 CFR Part 600." Letter from Acting Attorney General James B. Comey to Patrick J. Fitzgerald (Feb. 6, 2004). 88 88

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 89 of 93 Smith, who—by the express terms of the Appointment Order and by his own admission—is subject to the Special Counsel Regulations, and subject to the supervision and control of the Attorney General. As mentioned above, the Court need not decide the "independence" issue given the absence of statutory law authorizing the appointment. But at the very least, the “independence" question raises doubts. III. Remedy This leaves remedy for the Appropriations Clause violation. Defendants argue that dismissal is the only way to cure the funding violation [ECF No. 326 p. 12; ECF No. 414 p. 9]. Special Counsel Smith opposes dismissal, asserting without any specificity or even willingness to engage in factfinding [see ECF No. 620 p. 3]—that “the Department could readily have funded the Special Counsel from other appropriations that were available” [ECF No. 374 p. 25]. At the hearing, Special Counsel Smith represented, "at a relatively high level of generality," that DOJ "has appropriated, at least in the 2023 appropriation cycle, over a billion dollars," which it is prepared to use to fund the Special Counsel's office [ECF No. 648 pp. 41-42]. The Court need not reach the question of remedy here, having found the Appointments Clause violation to warrant dismissal. Supra pp. 81–85. But as discussed below, there is good reason to believe that the Appropriation Clause violation serves as a separate, independent basis to dismiss. "Across remedial contexts, the nature of the violation determines the scope of the remedy." John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC, 144 S. Ct. at 1594 (internal quotation marks omitted). As far as the Court can tell, there is no Supreme Court or Eleventh Circuit precedent that speaks directly to this point. Given the absence of binding precedent on the issue, the Court finds instructive 89 69

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 90 of 93 Judge Edith Jones's concurrence in Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau v. All Am. Check Cashing, Inc., 33 F.4th 218 (5th Cir. 2022) (Jones, J., concurring), a case involving a civil enforcement action brought by the CFPB. Id. at 220-42.70 All American concerned whether the CFPB's structure violated the Constitution's separation of powers. Id. at 220. In a per curiam opinion, the court vacated and remanded the district court's order in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau, 591 U.S. 197 (2020). Id. Judge Jones concurred, writing separately to make the case that the CFPB's funding mechanism violated the Appropriations Clause. Id. at 220-42 (Jones, J., concurring). Likening an unlawfully funded enforcement action to unauthorized government action, Judge Jones advanced that dismissal was the proper remedy: Just as a government actor cannot exercise power that the actor does not lawfully possess, so, too, a government actor cannot exercise even its lawful authority using money the actor cannot lawfully spend. Indeed, a constitutionally proper appropriation is as much a precondition to every exercise of executive authority by an administrative agency as a constitutionally proper appointment or delegation of authority. Id. at 242. Surveying cases in which a government actor took action without constitutional authority, Judge Jones concluded that the appropriate remedial course was to "disregard the government action.” Id. “[B]ecause the CFPB funds the instant prosecution using unconstitutional self-funding, I would dismiss the lawsuit." Id. There is a strong, intuitive appeal to applying Judge Jones's logic here. The Special Counsel's office has spent tens of millions of dollars since November 2022, all drawn unconstitutionally from the Indefinite Appropriation. That funding has served as “the very lifeblood that empower[ed] it to act.” Id. at 241. Perhaps, as suggested generally at the hearing, 70 Cmty. Fin. Servs. Ass'n of Am., Ltd. v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau, 51 F.4th 616, 642-43 (5th Cir. 2022), is a related case (overruled on other grounds in CFPB), that provides helpful analysis on remedies in the Appropriations Clause context. 90 90

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 91 of 93 DOJ could reallocate funds to finance the continued operation of Special Counsel Smith's office [ECF No. 648 pp. 41-42]. This would require further development of the record. But even if this were prospectively possible, what to make of the prior action? For more than 18 months, Special Counsel Smith's investigation and prosecution has been financed by substantial funds drawn from the Treasury without statutory authorization, and to try to rewrite history at this point seems near impossible. The Court has difficulty seeing how a remedy short of dismissal would cure this substantial separation-of-powers violation, but the answers are not entirely self-evident, and the caselaw is not well developed. For that reason, and given the disposition of this Order on Appointments Clause grounds, the Court leaves the matter of funding remedy for any applicable future review.71 CONCLUSION Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the Motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel's Smith's prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme-the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law. The Framers gave Congress a pivotal role in the appointment of principal and inferior officers. That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch or diffused elsewhere—whether in this case or in another case, whether in times of heightened national need or not. In the case of inferior officers, that means that Congress is empowered to decide if it wishes to vest appointment power in a Head of Department, and indeed, Congress has proven itself quite capable of doing so in many other statutory contexts. But it plainly did not do so here, despite the Special Counsel's 71 As in the Appointments Clause context, the de facto officer doctrine does not apply here. See supra pp. 84-85. 91

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 92 of 93 strained statutory readings. Nor does his appeal to inconsistent "historical practice” supplant the absence of textual authorization for his appointment. The same structural emphases resonate in the context of the Appropriation Clause, which “embodies a fundamental separation of powers principle subjugating the executive branch to the legislatures power of the purse." All American, 33 F.4th at 221 (Jones, J., concurring). In the end, it seems the Executive's growing comfort in appointing “regulatory" special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny. Perhaps this can be traced back to reliance on stray dictum in Nixon that perpetuated in subsequent cases. Perhaps it can be justified practically by the urgency of national crises. Or perhaps it can be explained by the relative infrequency of these types of investigations, by congressional inattention, or by the important roles that special-counsel-like figures have played in our country's history. Regardless of the explanation, the present Motion requires careful analysis of the statutory landscape to ensure compliance with the Constitution, and the Court has endeavored to do so with care. The Court thus returns to where it started. The Appointments Clause is “among the significant structural safeguards of the constitutional scheme.” Edmond, 520 U.S. at 659. So too is the Appropriations Clause, which carefully separates Congressional control of the "purse" from Executive control of the "sword." The Federalist No. 78 (Alexander Hamilton). The consequences of relaxing either of those critical provisions are serious, both in this case and beyond. As Justice Frankfurter explained in his opinion in Youngstown, “[t]he accretion of dangerous power does not come in a day. It does come, however slowly, from the generative force of unchecked disregard of the restrictions that fence in even the most disinterested assertion of authority." Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 594 (1952) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). “[I]llegitimate 92 92

Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 672 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2024 Page 93 of 93 and unconstitutional practices get their first footing... by silent approaches and slight deviations from legal modes of procedure." Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 635 (1886). *** For the reasons set forth above, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows: 1. Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Superseding Indictment Based on Unlawful Appointment and Funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED in accordance with this Order [ECF No. 326]. 2. The Superseding Indictment [ECF No. 85] is DISMISSED. 3. This Order is confined to this proceeding. The Court decides no other legal rights or claims. 4. This Order shall not affect or weaken any of the protections for classified information imposed in this case or any protective orders pertaining to classified information. 5. The Clerk is directed to CLOSE this case. Any scheduled hearings are CANCELLED. Any pending motions are DENIED AS MOOT, and any pending deadlines are TERMINATED. DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Fort Pierce, Florida, this 15th day of July 2024. CC: counsel of record 93 93 AILEEN M. CANNON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE