· He was approved by a 75-21 vote in the Senate, and his nomination and confirmation process lasted for about two months. One rumored replacement is Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who was linked...
· The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Merrick Garland to be President Biden's attorney general, a U-turn from a 2016 stalemate that kept him stuck in Senate limbo. © Getty Images Attorney General...
· He was approved by a 75-21 vote in the Senate, and his nomination and confirmation process lasted for about two months. One rumored replacement is Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who was linked...
· The Senate confirmed William Barr to be the next attorney general of the United States in an 54-45 vote. Democrats had criticized Barr for a previous memo he wrote calling special counsel Robert...
The attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States. Washington, D.C. 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.
A simple majority vote is needed for confirmation (there are currently 100 U.S. senators). Typically, the nomination and confirmation process for a justice takes several months, but it can be, and on occasion has been, completed more quickly.
The tracker includes all full-time civilian positions in the executive branch that require Senate confirmation except for judges, marshals and U.S. attorneys. Military appointments and part-time positions requiring Senate confirmation are not included.
Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution and law of the United States, certain federal positions appointed by the president of the United States require confirmation (advice and consent) of the United States Senate.
House of Representatives: 225 Democrats (including 4 Delegates), 210 Republicans (including 1 Delegate and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico), and 6 vacant seats. Senate: 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 2 Independents, who both caucus with the Democrats. assumes that no seat is temporarily vacant.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.
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 ...
Congress may try to overturn an executive order by passing a bill that blocks it. But the president can veto that bill. Congress would then need to override that veto to pass the bill. Also, the Supreme Court can declare an executive order unconstitutional.
The Constitution gives to the Senate the sole power to approve, by a two-thirds vote, treaties negotiated by the executive branch.
Senate approves treaty and takes 2/3rds to vote and approve. Which body of Congress approves nominations? When can the president appoint people without approval by anyone else? When Congress is not in session.
Congress can override a veto by passing the act by a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate. (Usually an act is passed with a simple majority.) This check prevents the President from blocking an act when significant support for it exists.
The EOP, overseen by the White House Chief of Staff, has traditionally been home to many of the President's closest advisers. While Senate confirmation is required for some advisers, such as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, most are appointed with full Presidential discretion.
Democrats Joe Manchin, Doug Jones and Kyrsten Sinema voted to confirm Barr and one Republican, Rand Paul, voted against Barr.
A previous version of this graphic incorrectly stated Senator Richard Burr (R- N.C.) voted to confirm William Barr. He did not vote.
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.
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.
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.
Opposition from one or more senators may prevent a floor vote because the Senate cannot schedule the vote absent unanimous consent.
Because all this takes time, potential nominees for the highest positions usually get priority. In 2004, Congress amended the law governing presidential transitions to encourage a president-elect to put forward candidates for the national security team shortly after the election.
A candidate for a Cabinet or other top position fills out various forms, such as a financial disclosure report and a national security questionnaire. The Office of Government Ethics is available to guide a candidate through the paperwork.
A president’s most visible, and consequential, judicial nominations occur when a seat opens on the Supreme Court.
Following a vote of cloture, the Senate conducts a simple majority vote on whether to confirm, reject, or take no action on the nomination.
The nomination must be on the Executive Calendar for more than one day before it can make it to the Senate floor for consideration. Unanimous consent of the time and date for debate must be agreed upon by all senators. If even one senator does not agree, a hold is placed on the nomination.
The following table outlines jurisdiction of the Senate committees in terms of the presidential appointment confirmation process. The left column indicates the Senate committee, and the right indicates the federal departments and administrations over which the committee has jurisdiction. For more information on each committee, follow the link in the left column.
The process begins when the president provides a written nomination to the Senate, where it is read on the floor and assigned a number. This starts the Senate's procedure of " Advice and Consent " laid out in Article II of the U.S. Constitution for the appointment of high ranking officials by the president.
A chosen nominee then must pass through a series of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, the Office of Government Ethics and an ethics official from the agency to which the position is assigned. The nominee must also fill out the Public Financial Disclosure Report and questionnaires related to his or her background check.
All presidential appointments requiring Senate confirmation (PAS) must follow the appointment confirmation process before taking office. Although the number of PAS positions varies by administration, it typically includes all executive department secretaries, undersecretaries, and inspectors general. Some roles in independent agencies and ...
In reality, a political ally of the President who is respected by the bipartisan majority of the Senate accompanies the nominee on an exhausting series of meet-and-greet appointments with key Senators (leadership, Judiciary Committee members, friendly Senators of the other party) to soften the ground before the Judiciary Committee hearing (s). The Judiciary Committee leader from the opposing party will have Committee staff review everything they can find or subpoena looking for some shade to throw on the nominee at the hearing. They will eventually hear from a high school acquaintance that was there when the nominee peed in the pool at a skinny-dipping party and the next-door neighbor who swears he took a dump in her flower bed when he was eight. There will be a certified media circus followed by an affirmative confirmation vote.
The House was supposed to reflect the people. The Senate was to represent the states. This is why Senators were not elected by popular vote. They were selected by their respective state legislatures (changed by the 17th Amendment in 1913). As the Court originally was designed to settle disputes between the states, it made sense the Justices be confirmed by t
Why? Because the Republicans had gotten very lucky here… consider that Carter and Bush 41 were both one-term presidents, but Carter got very unlucky and didn’t get to make a single appointment, unlike Bush. And then there was the #$%@! electoral college and the Butterfly Ballot, and so on.
Term limits would be much better. Phase out 1/3rd of Judges every 4 years , and change the selection process. No more appointment by the President, a much more deeper-reaching review process, more involvement by the Judiciary itself. And kill those outsiders influence - have any Candidate removed that gets endorsed by those freaks outright.
The original concept in the design of the US government was a weak central government that dealt only with matters common to all the states. The states were regarded as sovereign entities themselves — independent mini-countries if you wish.
The courts gain their power because they’re extremely knowledgeable about the law (at least, in theory), and are very careful to narrowly interpret it in a way that the rest of the country believes. If they don’t, they’ll be ignored, and lose any relevance at all.
A majority. Meaning 51 Senators or 50 plus a Vice President. Or less if there are absent Senators. I am retired from DOJ and my opinions are my own
If you really want to work “at the pleasure of the president,” but don’t want to have to face the scrutiny of the U.S. Senate, there are more than 320 other high-level government jobs that the president can fill directly without the Senate’s consideration or approval.
However, under the rules governing unanimous consent items, any Senator, for himself or herself or on the behalf of another Senator, can direct that any particular “privileged” nominee be referred to Senate committee and considered in the usual fashion.
Hoping to avoid those political pitfalls and delays in the presidential nominee approval process, the Senate, on June 29, 2011, adopted Senate Resolution 116, which established a special expedited procedure governing Senate consideration of certain lower-level presidential nominations. Under the resolution, over 40 specific presidential nominations—mostly assistant department secretaries and members of various boards and commissions—bypass the Senate subcommittee approval process. Instead, the nominations are sent to the chairpersons of the appropriate Senate committees under the heading, “Privileged Nominations – Information Requested.” Once the committees’ staffs have verified that the “appropriate biographical and financial questionnaires have been received” from the nominee, the nominations are considered by the full Senate.
Noel Canning ruled that the Senate must be in recess for at least three consecutive days before the president can make recess appointments.
Justices of the Supreme Court: 9 positions (Supreme Court justices serve for life subject to death, retirement, resignation or impeachment.) Certain jobs in the independent, non-regulatory executive branch agencies, like NASA and the National Science Foundation: Over 120 positions. Director positions in the regulatory agencies, ...
Specifically, the third clause of Article II, Section 2 grants the president the power to “fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”.
However, under the rules governing unanimous consent items, any Senator, for himself or herself or on the behalf of another Senator, can direct that any particular “privileged” nominee be referred to Senate committee and considered in the usual fashion.
For a committee to vote on reporting the nominee to the full Senate for a confirmation vote, a majority of members must be “physically present.”
The committee has three options in voting to send a nomination to the full Senate: Report it favorably, unfavorably, or without recommendation.
Other appointees receive more attention from Congress and the media through hearings, investigations, and floor debate. Historically, the Senate has shown particular interest in the nominee’s views and how they are likely to affect public policy.
The decision by a committee to report a nomination is critical: To be considered on the Senate floor, the nomination must have been reported from the committee of jurisdiction or all senators must agree to its consideration.
The Senate’s executive clerk refers the president or president-elect’s formal choice to the appropriate committee (sometimes committees) overseeing the executive branch department in question, such as State or Defense.
The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service also review a potential or formal candidate’s personal, political, and financial backgrounds.
Opposition from one or more senators may prevent a floor vote on a nomination that has come out of committee, because the rules require “unanimous consent” to consider and confirm a nomination.