On May 18, 1864, President Lincoln issued an executive order commanding Major General John A. Dix to arrest and imprison the editors, proprietors, and publishers of the New York World and New York Journal of Commerce newspapers for printing false stories giving comfort to the enemies of the U.S.
(www.americanhistorycentral.com)
The President was much more powerful then, they had total control of the executive.
The President is as powerful as he chooses to be.
POTUS: "Fire everyone in the FBI, hire these people, start investigating election fraud."
WH Lawyer: "I'm sorry Mr. President, but 28 US Code 531 subsection 33 paragraph J states that employees in class Q divisions are hired under consent of congress and require a statutory 6 month probationary period and the approval of two supervisors before we can transfer them to an attached division where they may serve for a year before they can be terminated."
POTUS: "Fuck you. Carry out my orders."
SCOTUS: "We have ruled that the president does NOT have the authority to carry out that order. The law says these employees can't be fired, and the the president cannot conduct investigations, and this other law we just made up says we get to approve of anyone he hires to make sure the department is diverse enough."
POTUS: "Fuck you. Carry out my orders."
It's that simple.
No it isn't.
POTUS: "Fuck you. Carry out my orders."
Career employee: "No. Here is the court order saying I don't."
POTUS: "You're fired."
Career employee: "You can't fire me. See civil service law enacted by Congress. You need cause and a lengthy investigation to fire me, and I have a court decision backing me up."
That last one is BS.
Something something Unitary Executive.
All executive authority in the federal government either needs to be executed by the president himself, or within his chain of command.
Not that he can Individually fire every member of the executive branch, but he can fire the person who can fire the person.... who can fire every person in the executive branch.
That’s like Article II, Section 1 shit.
Basically, if Congress grants the authority for the government to execute an action, it shall be done as the President wishes.
And if you don’t agree with that, you’re fired.