 And so Eileen Cannon writes, both the appointments and appropriations challenges as framed in the motion raise the following threshold question. Is there a statute in the U.S. Code that authorizes the appointment of special counsel Smith to conduct this prosecution? After careful study of the seminal issue, the answer is no. None of the statutes cited as legal authority for the appointment give the attorney general broad inferior officer appointing power or bestow upon him the right to appoint a federal officer with the kind of prosecutorial power wielded by special counsel Smith. The bottom line is this.