can the president assign a attorney general when congress won't agree

by Rachelle Casper 6 min read

What does the Attorney General of the United States do?

Attorney General to advise heads of executive departments § 513. Attorney General to advise Secretaries of military departments § 514. Legal services on pending claims in departments and agencies § 515. Authority for legal proceedings; commission, oath, and salary for special attorneys

Can the Attorney General be impeached by Congress?

So, to answer your question: Yes, the attorney general, and any other appointment official, can be impeached by congress. Yes, the Constitution stipulates that Congress has the power to impeach the President, Vice President and all civil officers.

What can a president do without Senate approval?

A PRESIDENT CANNOT . . . make laws. declare war. decide how federal money will be spent. interpret laws. choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without Senate approval.

What can and can't a president do?

talk directly to the people about problems. A PRESIDENT CANNOT . . . make laws. declare war. decide how federal money will be spent. interpret laws. choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without Senate approval.

Does the Attorney General have to be approved by Congress?

Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, then appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate.

What can the president do without congressional approval?

The Constitution explicitly assigns the president the power to sign or veto legislation, command the armed forces, ask for the written opinion of their Cabinet, convene or adjourn Congress, grant reprieves and pardons, and receive ambassadors.

Can President make decisions without Senate?

A PRESIDENT CANNOT . . . decide how federal money will be spent. interpret laws. choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without Senate approval.

Is the US Attorney General appointed by the president?

The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice.

Can US President override Congress?

The Framers of the Constitution gave the President the power to veto acts of Congress to prevent the legislative branch from becoming too powerful.

What is it called when the president makes a decision without Congress?

In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government.

Does an executive order have to be approved by Congress?

Executive orders are not legislation; they require no approval from Congress, and Congress cannot simply overturn them. Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order, such as removing funding.

Who can the president nominate or appoint?

The United States Constitution provides that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided ...

What can the president do without seeking the consent of either the House or the Senate?

Two-thirds of the representatives and senators are members of the same party as the President. The President can do which of the following without seeking the consent of either the House or the Senate? Deploy troops. The President's veto power is accurately described by which of the following statements?

What is the purpose of the US attorney general?

The principal duties of the Attorney General are to: Represent the United States in legal matters. Supervise and direct the administration and operation of the offices, boards, divisions, and bureaus that comprise the Department.

How are US attorneys appointed?

The President appoints a United States Attorney to each of the 94 federal districts (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are separate districts but share a United States Attorney).

What is the role of Attorney General?

Who is Attorney General of India? Article 76 of the constitution mentions that he/she is the highest law officer of India. As a chief legal advisor to the government of India, he advises the union government on all legal matters. He also is the primary lawyer representing Union Government in the Supreme Court of India.

Why should the Attorney General be chosen by the President?

The founders ultimately decided that the attorney general should be chosen by the president in order to mirror the presidential appointment of federal judges. It was not meant to imply that the attorney general position should be considered similar to the heads of other executive departments.

Who appointed the Attorney General?

Many of the founders envisioned that the U.S. attorney general would be appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Whereas all other early executive departments – such as Foreign Affairs, Treasury, and War – were established with their own acts, Congress created the position of attorney general with the Judiciary Act of 1789, which is the same act that organized the Supreme Court and lower federal courts.

Why did Barr choose to do a photo op at a church close to the White House?

In early June, Barr chose to prioritize the president’s photo op at a church close to the White House at the expense of the civil liberties of peaceful protesters, who were cleared from the president’s path by security forces using rubber bullets and a type of tear gas.

Can an attorney general make political decisions?

An elected state attorney general can make politically motivated decisions – particularly if they seek to use the office as a stepping stone to become a governor or senator.

Who is the Democratic candidate for governor in Kentucky?

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, the Democratic candidate for governor in 2019, after voting in the 2019 Kentucky election. John Sommers II/Getty Images

Did Barr resign?

This announcement was news to Berman, who later contradicted Barr by declaring that he had not resigned and indeed had no intention of resigning. Barr then contradicted himself by informing Berman that since he had refused to resign, he had instead been fired.

Who was the Attorney General of Nixon?

Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell was a central figure in the Watergate scandal and was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in 1975. He was out of office by then so there was no need for impeachment.

Which article of the Constitution gives Congress the power to impeach the President?

Article II of the Constitution grants Congress the power to impeach “the president, the vice president and all civil officers of the United States.” The phrase “civil officers” includes the members of the cabinet (one of whom, Secretary of War William Belknap, was impeached in 1876).

Why isn't the impeachment done?

The reason it is not really done is that Cabinet positions are executive branch posts and thus they do serve at the pleasure of the President. He can fire or ask them to resign. The one impeachment dealt with a political issue where President Grant did not want to fire his Secretary of War, William Belknap, who was

Can a federal judge be impeached?

I have to repeat a prior answer from a source that Article II of the Constitution grants Congress the power to impeach “the president, the vice president and all civil officers of the United States.” And it has been done once. Federal Judges can also be impeached and it has happened.

Can Congress impeach article 2?

Yes. Congress can impeach article 2 (who were confirmed by congress) and article 3 judges. Honestly they should be impeaching more than they do

Can Barr be impeached?

Yes, under the Constitution, they can. The current House can and would impeach Barr in a New York second. However, they know that the Republican Senate would not remove him.

Can the Attorney General be impeached?

So, to answer your question: Yes, the attorney general, and any other appointment official, can be impeached by congress.

Who shall appoint Ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court?

shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law.

Who presents a signed commission to the successful nominee?

Third, the president presents a signed commission to the successful nominee and he or she is sworn in, assuming authority to carry out the duties of the office.

Why did the Senate pass a resolution in 2011?

In 2011, to ease the logjam of President Obama’s appointees awaiting confirmation, the Senate adopted a resolution allowing nominations for specific positions to bypass a committee and go to the full Senate for a vote. The committee still collects background, however. And if a single senator objects to the expedited process, the nomination goes to committee as usual.

How many nominees have been rejected by the Senate?

3 nominees. In the past 100 years, the Senate has rejected three nominations on a recorded vote. Americans tend to think of their president as the most powerful person in the world, but the Constitution limits the power of all three branches of government—the president as well as the Congress and the federal courts.

What is Article 2 Section 2?

Article II, Section 2 empowers the president to nominate and—“by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate”—to appoint principal officers such as department heads as well as subordinate ones such as deputies. The process of the president’s nomination of Cabinet secretaries, and the Senate’s confirmation of them, ...

How many Supreme Court nominees have been withdrawn?

Four nominees withdrew (out of seven in history). Since 1845, the Senate has taken no action on only five Supreme Court nominees, the latest being Merrick Garland in 2016. Obama, a liberal Democrat, selected Garland to fill a vacancy created by the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative.

Why can't a senator schedule a floor vote?

Opposition from one or more senators may prevent a floor vote because the Senate cannot schedule the vote absent unanimous consent.

What are the two steps in the Senate approval process?

Senate Democrats have made sure that the two steps in the Senate’s approval process, ending debate and final confirmation , are as cumbersome as possible. Rather than informal cooperation, which has been the norm in the past, each step routinely has required a formal, time-consuming process unprecedented in Senate history.

What happens if the House fails to act?

If the House failed to act, then the president could try to declare that there was disagreement, particularly if he acts on the first day that the Senate has approved an adjournment if the House is still in session. Or the Senate could put a deadline into the motion for the House to act, after which the Senate considers that it is in disagreement with the House on adjournment.

What does the adjournment clause say?

The Adjournment Clause says that the president may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.”

How many justices have agreed to use the adjournment clause?

There wasn’t a single dissenting justice. So all nine justices of the Supreme Court agreed that the president could use the Adjournment Clause to force an adjournment long enough to make recess appointments, as long as there is a disagreement between the Senate and the House on when to adjourn.

How long does it take for the Senate to adjourn?

For the president to use the Adjournment Clause to adjourn Congress for the 10 days needed to make recess appointments, there needs to be a formal disagreement between the Senate and the House. The Senate could pass a motion of adjournment for at least 10 days. Under Senate Rule 22, such a motion isn’t debatable, so it requires only a simple majority vote.

How many votes did the Senate take during Obama's first term?

In fact, the Senate took only 30 such votes during the first term of the previous nine presidents combined.

Can the President fill a Senate recess without the Senate's approval?

First of all, the Constitution does allow the president to temporarily fill what it calls “Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate” without Senate approval. Trump could do that if the Senate was in a single extended recess—if it was adjourned.