Recess Appointments

So can you explain to me why Trump is demanding recess appointments then?

 

Not sure, he regularly publicly insists that he should be permitted to do something that he can pretty clearly already do.

Unless he’s real worried that swampy Republicans are going to try to stop him from exercising explicit constitutional powers, all he did was stir up Democrats to fuss over nothing by insisting that Republican Senate leadership do something that any Republican Senate leadership was obviously already going to do.

EDIT: And having read what I just wrote, pretty sure that’s the reason - it’s an easy way to claim a “win” over Dems by making them complain about how he’s going to do something that the Constitution expressly gives him the power to do and that Dems have no ability to stop.

 

I was asking Ben, not you. I hadn't seen your post. So your answer is all of the sudden we must circumvent the advise and consent clause of the Constitution so Trump can appoint his unqualified wingnuts without waiting for Senate approval, which the Repubs control in the first place. Got it.

 

The other likely reason is a fairly mundane one that gets into the intricacies of the Vacancies Act and the fact that it takes a good bit of time for the Senate to confirm the multitude of positions requiring Senate confirmation at the start of an administration.

The Vacancies Act places a time limit on how long someone may serve in an “acting” role, and has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as prohibiting someone who has been nominated to permanently fill a role from serving in that role on an acting basis pending confirmation. But if the President recess appoints people into those positions, they’re subject to the Constitution’s nominations clause time limit (confirmed by the end of the next legislative session) instead of the shorter limit imposed by the Vacancies Act, and there is no similar prohibition on them acting in the position while they are awaiting confirmation.

 

No, presidents make recess appointments all the time, and 32 is not a large number compared to others. But I believe the intent here is to have the Senate leader call a recess specifically so Trump can make recess appointments. Why else would he be demanding it?

 

Don't you worry, they're coming. They're going to try to clear out the fed bureaucracy of career civil servants and replace them with unqualified political appointees. It's all part of the master plan.

 

It’s the Vacancies Act explanation in the post above yours, combined with Trump’s general desire to make a big scene about even mundane things.