Speaking as a federal employee.... I encounter appeals to authority almost constantly in situations where the thing appealed to lacks the authority claimed. It is amazing to watch the reactions when someone says "We are going to do X because so-and-so says we are going to do X," and the whole room nods except for me. Then I calmly reply that so-and-so lacks the authority to make that decision. It gets especially awkward when I show Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) to support my assertion that we are going to do things differently. CFR has
actual authority. I'm also the kind of asshole that makes a senior executive put in writing when they are granting an exception, when the CFR allows exceptions to be granted by senior executives, and won't accept a subordinate making the same move because, again, they explicitly lack that authority..... point being... lots of people make appeals to authority in situations where the thing they are appealing to lacks the authority they want.... but that still counts an "appeal to authority."
As an academic, my fascination with authority mostly revolved around graduation ceremonies. At Penn State Altoona, we always had an emissary from the board of trustees, who would travel to our campus with an oversized magical amulet that he gives to the Chancellor, thereby vesting in her the power of the board to grant degrees. I'm not joking, the magical ceremony can be seen in this video starting at 51:45.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dYPPptGYC8
Groups of students are asked to stand, then the Chancellor states: "Through the power vested in me by the Board of Trustees of The Pennsylvania State University I now bestow upon each of you your respective degree."
This is necessary, presumably, because only the board of trustees has the power to grant degrees... and should a drunk hobo accidentally wander into a board of trustees meeting, they are fully within their authority to grant him a Ph.D. in Drunkology from Penn State. Should they agree to do so, it is done, regardless of any objections that might be lodged later.
I often thought about asking someone to attend the Altoona graduation ceremony, stand up every time that was about to happen, and then file a suit arguing that they had been officially granted a degree via the power of the Board of Trustees. (See also, the excellent book "How to do things with words".) It would have been so easy to rephrase the stock-statement to avoid such an issue... but they have still not changed it.