Nominations to fill judicial openings are subject to confirmation by the Senate after being reviewed by that chamber’s Judiciary Committee, which also holds hearings. A president’s most visible, and consequential, judicial nominations occur when a seat opens on the Supreme Court. Presidents have nominated a total of 161 persons to the high court.
Second, the Senate determines whether to confirm the nomination. 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. The appointments clause of the Constitution specifies that the president
Nominations to fill judicial openings are subject to confirmation by the Senate after being reviewed by that chamber’s Judiciary Committee, which also holds hearings. A president’s most visible, and consequential, judicial nominations occur when a seat opens on the Supreme Court.
The Constitution empowers the president to appoint federal judges, most of which sit on either a U.S. District Court (with 673 judgeships) or a Circuit Court of Appeals (with 179 judgeships).
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.
He was confirmed in a 76–23 vote and received his judicial commission the next day. The majority of Republican senators voted to confirm Garland, including Senators John McCain, Orrin Hatch, Susan Collins, and Jim Inhofe.
On March 16, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier.
The heads of departments, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, are members of the Cabinet, and acting department heads also participate in Cabinet meetings whether or not they have been officially nominated for Senate confirmation.
U.S. attorneys are appointed by the President of the United States for a term of four years, with appointments subject to confirmation by the Senate. A U.S. attorney continues in office, beyond the appointed term, until a successor is appointed and qualified.
Typically, the whole process takes several months, but it can be, and on occasion has been, completed more quickly. Since the mid 1950s, the average time from nomination to final Senate vote has been about 55 days.
Incumbent The 15th and current Attorney General is K. K. Venugopal. He was reappointed by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2020.
Four presidents—William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Johnson, and Jimmy Carter—did not make any nominations, as there were no vacancies while they were in office.
Sonia Sotomayor2009Elena Kagan2010Barack Obama/Supreme Court judges appointed
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 ...
Cabinet Nominations. Article II, section 2 of the Constitution gives the Senate responsibility for considering and confirming the President's executive and judicial nominations.
The Cabinet is an advisory body made up of the heads of the 15 executive departments. Appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the members of the Cabinet are often the President's closest confidants.
The announcement of the attorney general, along with other senior leaders of the Justice Department, is expected to be made as soon as Thursday as Biden moves closer to filling the remaining seats in his Cabinet before assuming power on January 20.
Clarke said at the same news conference that whoever is selected as attorney general “must have a clear and bold record when it comes to civil rights and racial justice.”. Sharpton responded to the Garland pick with a skeptical statement and asked for a meeting with the nominee.
Defenders of Garland argued he would be a particularly strong choice to lead the Justice Department in the post-Trump era because he is seen as above reproach of partisan politics. Some allies describe him as a “Boy Scout,” which is intended to suggest he would be seen as a non-political figure.
Garland was chosen by Biden for attorney general over former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former acting attorney general Sally Yates, the two other finalists for the position.
Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court after a vacancy was created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. But Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, refused for months to hold confirmation hearings or the required vote in the chamber.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris met last month with civil rights leaders and members of the NAACP, who have been pressuring Biden to diversify his Cabinet and create a position within the White House for a civil rights czar.
US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of Califor nia, speaks at her weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2021.
The 2020 United States Attorney General elections were held on November 3, 2020, in 10 states. The previous Attorney General elections for this group of states took place in 2016, except in Vermont where Attorneys General only serve two-year terms and elected their current Attorney General in 2018. Nine state Attorneys General ran ...
Incumbent Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt was elected to a full term.
The 2020 West Virginia Attorney General election was held on November 3, 2020 along with several federal and state elections . Republican incumbent Patrick Morrisey was re-elected with 51.63% of the vote in 2016 and successfully sought re-election.
The 2020 Montana Attorney General election will be held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Attorney General of the U.S. state of Montana. Incumbent Republican Montana Attorney General Tim Fox was re-elected in 2016 with 67.7% of the vote. Fox is term-limited and cannot run for re-election.
The 2020 Indiana Attorney General election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Attorney General of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Democratic primary convention was scheduled for June 13, 2020.
The elections took place concurrently with the 2020 presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives and Senate, and numerous state and local elections. No Attorneys General offices changed party control in 2020.
The Senate Judiciary Committee gave its approval of President Biden 's attorney general nominee Judge Merrick Garland on Monday, following a vote of 15 to 7. Garland’s nomination will now advance to a vote by the full Senate, which will ultimately decide whether he becomes ...
President Barack Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court in 2016, but Senate Republicans opted not to hold a hearing, waiting until after that year's presidential election to allow President Donald Trump to select Justice Neil Gorsuch instead.
Judge Garland’s answers on the right to bear arms have not been encouraging," Grassley said, stating that during the confirmation hearing Garland said he would "enact President Biden's gun-grabbing agenda.".
Similarly, ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he would support Garland but also noted that he was concerned about Garland’s stance on the Second Amendment.
Still, Grassley voted for Garland, as did several other Republicans and every Democrat on the committee.
Harris has cast four tie-breaking votes in the Senate so far, including during the February "vote-a-rama" on the Senate's budget resolution.
Vice President Kamala Harris was on hand for a procedural vote Wednesday morning in case she was needed for a possible 50-50 tie, but her vote wasn't necessary after Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska, broke with her Republican colleagues to back Gupta. With her confirmation, Gupta will be the first woman of color to be associate attorney ...
While Harris did not have to vote on Gupta's nomination, she may be called into action for the President's nominees soon -- even as early as later Wednesday. Several nominees heading to the floor soon, including Clarke and Colin Kahl, Biden's pick to be Pentagon policy chief, have faced stiff GOP opposition.
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. Republican leadership decided to adhere to a Senate tradition ...
Second, the Senate determines whether to confirm the nomination. 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. The appointments clause of the Constitution specifies that the president.
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 the high court’s first-ever decision on the breadth of the president’s power in making recess appointments, the justices said such appointments must be made during a Senate recess lasting at least 10 days. And if the Senate says it is in session, the court ruled, it’s in session.
At this writing, the Senate has rejected only nine of a president’s Cabinet nominations. Four were made by embattled Whig-turned-Independent John Tyler in 1843 and 1844, including choices for secretary of war and treasury secretary.
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.
The appropriate committee investigates the nominee, holds hearings, and reports to the full Senate.