The Limits of the Presidential Portfolio and its Implications for the Office on Missing Persons

This brief, published by our legal team, analyses the limitations on the powers of the Executive President to assign subjects and functions to Ministers under the 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution.

In particular, this paper argues that the Constitution and the 19th Amendment prohibit the President from assigning the subject of the Office on Missing Persons Act (OMP) to himself, and consequently from appointing the date on which the provisions of the OMP Act comes into operation.