Byron White

“ Even then, the Court did not adopt the theory that such control subjected the actions of the Comptroller General to bicameralism and presentment requirements, but instead held that Congress' power of removal amounted to an unconstitutional intrusion on executive authority. Id., at 727-734, 106 S.Ct., at 3188-3192. Here, by contrast, the Board operates under no obligations to Congress of any sort. To the contrary, every relevant instrument declares that Members of Congress sit in their "individual capacities" as "representatives of the users of the Metropolitan Washington Airports." ”

“ The majority counters that Congress maintains "effective removal power over Board members because depriving a Board member of membership in [certain congressional] committees deprives the member of authority to sit on the Board." Ante, at 269. This conclusion rests on the faulty premise that the Airports Act requires the removal of a Board member once he or she leaves a particular committee. But the Act does not say this. Rather, it merely states that members of the Board "shall consist" of Members of Congress who sit in certain specified committees. ”

“ If the Board did exercise executive authority that is federal in nature, the Court would have no need to say anything other than that congressional membership on the Board violated these express constitutional limitations. The majority's failure is either unaccountable or suggests that it harbors a certain discomfort with its own position that the Board in fact exercises significant federal power. Whichever is the case, the Court instead relies on expanding nontextual principles as articulated in Bowsher v. ”

“ The majority claims not to retreat from our settled rule that " ' [w] hen this Court is asked to invalidate a statutory provision that has been approved by both Houses of the Congress and signed by the President, . . . it should only do so for the most compelling constitutional reasons.' " Mistretta, 488 U.S., at 384, 109 S.Ct., at 661, (quoting Bowsher, supra, 478 U.S., at 736, 106 S.Ct., at 3193 (STEVENS, J.) ) . This rule should apply with even greater force when the arrangement under challenge has also been approved by what are functionally two state legislatures and two state executives. ”

“ While a concurrence in that case explored this theory, 478 U.S., at 755, 106 S.Ct., at 3202 (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment) , the Court never so held, id., at 732, 106 S.Ct., at 3191. The Board's authority is not of an order that the Court has ever held to be "an exercise of legislative power . . . subject to the standards prescribed in Art. I." Chadha, supra, 462 U.S., at 957, 103 S.Ct., at 2787. The majority can make it so only by reaching past our precedents. ”