Special Counsel Mueller to Roger Stone aide: Turn over docs and appear before grand jury. Aide: No. District court: Contempt! D.C. Circuit: Just so. The Special Counsel is an “inferior officer” within the Department of Justice, meaning his appointment did not violate the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Equally important (some might argue), compare pages 5 and 12 for the intra-opinion split on whether to describe Rod Rosenstein as “Acting Attorney General Rosenstein” or “General Rosenstein.” Friends of postpositive adjectives and opponents of militarizing law enforcement favor the former.
