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The Evolution Of Quasi-Judicial Activism In The Legislative Branch: Canadian Commercial Corp./Heroux, Inc., John M. Holloway Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

During the First Congress' debate over the bill to establish the Treasury Department, James Madison described the principal responsibility of the Comptroller of the Treasury as "deciding upon the lawfulness and justice of claims and accounts subsisting between the United States and particular citizens: this partakes strongly of the judicial character, and there may be strong reasons why an officer of this kind should not hold his office at the pleasure of the Executive Branch of Government." With the passage of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the General Accounting Office (GAO) was created and the responsibility to settle …