Reading Room Document

The President's Power to Remove the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation

In the absence of a clear legislative intent to the contrary, the President may remove his appointees at will. The Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation Act of 1972, 40 U.S.C. §§ 871 et seq., provides for appointment of a board of directors by the President, but is silent on removal. Although the Act provides for a six-year term of office, a provision for a term, by itself, is not a restriction on the President's removal authority, but rather, is a limitation on the period for which an appointee may serve without reappointment. Nothing in the statutory scheme, legislative history, or in the nature of the Board's functions, indicates an intent to restrict the President's removal power. Therefore, the board of directors may be removed by the President at will. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23511/download.

May 18, 1983