But lines between the branches are not always easily drawn. Legal scholar Anne Joseph O’Connell calls these “boundary” institutions: They live at the border of different authorities. GAO straddles both legislative-executive and legislative-judicial borders. The president appoints the comptroller, pulling GAO into the president’s orbit. But GAO also exercises legislative powers. It responds to requests from lawmakers for information and investigations, and Congress empowers GAO to bring suits if it finds the president has illegally impounded federal funds. At the judicial border, GAO adjudicates roughly a thousand disputes each year pertaining to the awarding of federal contracts. GAO’s porous boundaries arguably create an opening for a president to hire or fire the comptroller general at will on the grounds that GAO is just another independent agency tasked with executive responsibilities.