VIEWPOINT | Recess appointments talks bring Constitution, Senate’s role into focus

Guest column by David Adler, The Alturas Institute

The Recess Appointment power, seldom at the forefront of national discussion, has resurfaced as a headline topic when President-elect Donald Trump declared that those Republicans seeking the title of Senate Majority Leader “must” agree that his nominations for the U.S. Cabinet should be installed as recess appointments, a move that would bypass approval by the U.S. Senate. The unprecedented command from a president-in-waiting to an independent, co-equal branch of government raised the specter of the Senate surrendering a fundamental power that the Framers of the Constitution believed marked an essential distinction between a monarchy and a republic, to do the bidding of Trump, while ditching its supervisory constitutional role to grant advice and consent on cabinet nominations. Essentially, Trump has asked the GOP-controlled Senate to adjourn as soon as it convenes in January to enable him to fill cabinet posts without the constitutionally prescribed process of “advice and consent,” which involves scrutiny of the nominees’ credentials and qualifications, including rigorous confirmation hearings that reflect penetrating questions and testimony from friendly and opposition witnesses.

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