The cases could pose the next test of presidential power and have significant implications for civil service protections that have been in place since the late 1970s and the federal workers covered by them, legal scholars say. Well, if that’s the logic, that arguably includes inferior officers and employees, too.” Instead, by talking broadly about “subordinates,” Bednar said, it “raises this question of whether the civil service and inferior officers might be next.” “We think the arguments for these civil service laws being constitutional are incredibly strong. “If that is true, it is hard to see how that does not extend to inferior officers, so I would think they might carry it to that logical conclusion.”