{"id":1304,"date":"2018-11-09T10:52:21","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T15:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=1304"},"modified":"2018-11-09T10:52:21","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T15:52:21","slug":"above-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/11\/09\/above-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Above the Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above the Law<\/p>\n

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, at the request of the President of the United States, resigned from his office on Wednesday.\u00a0 The phrase, \u201c\u2026serve at the pleasure of the President,\u201d applies to Cabinet positions (called principal officers in the Constitution) as well as other positions in the Executive Branch.\u00a0 Like it or not, since the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1869 over this issue, the President can hire and fire.<\/p>\n

In Article II of the Constitution, the process of appointing and confirming the Cabinet level positions is established:<\/p>\n

\u2026he 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\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Officers, and particularly the principal officers of the Cabinet, require confirmation by the US Senate, the \u201cadvice and consent\u201d process.\u00a0 We know this:\u00a0 we just went through the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination.<\/p>\n

But if a cabinet member leaves, there is a void that needs to be filled.\u00a0 Should the Senate be in recess, the President can make a \u201crecess\u201d appointment to the position, not subject to Senate confirmation, for as long as two years.\u00a0This is how the current National Security Advisor, John Bolton, was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations during the George W Bush administration.\u00a0 Bush avoided what would have likely been a failed Senate confirmation by putting Bolton in the UN during a Congressional recess.<\/p>\n

Technically, the Congress is not in session this election week.\u00a0 This might allow for a \u201crecess\u201d appointment.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not what the Trump Administration has done.\u00a0 The President has appointed Matt Whitaker, the former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions as \u201cActing\u201d Attorney General, not calling it a recess appointment.\u00a0 Without getting into the qualifications of Mr. Whitaker, a key point to be made is that the Chief of Staff position at the Department of Justice (like the Chief of Staff at the White House) is not a Senate confirmed position.<\/p>\n

To try to clarify this process, in 1998 the Congress passed a \u201csuccession\u201d process law, called the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/em>This law established a process for replacing high-ranking executive department officials, and was clarified after the 9-11 attack, when it seemed possible that whole departments could lose their leadership.<\/p>\n

In the Act the normal process established would be for the \u201cfirst assistant\u201d to take over if the \u201cprincipal\u201d leaves.\u00a0 In the case of the Department of Justice today, that would be Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was confirmed for his position by the Senate.<\/p>\n

But the Trump Administration wants to end or restrain the Mueller Investigation, and putting Rosenstein in charge of the Department wouldn\u2019t change anything.\u00a0 Rosenstein, due to Sessions\u2019 recusal from the Mueller probe, \u00a0has already been in charge of the probe \u00a0and not to the President\u2019s liking.\u00a0 However, the President under the law, does have the legal right to pass over the \u201cfirst assistant.\u201d\u00a0 The second section of the act allows for:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

notwithstanding paragraph (1), the President (and only the President) may direct a person who serves in an office for which appointment is required to be made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to perform the functions and duties of the vacant office temporarily in an acting capacity subject to the time limitations\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The standard legal interpretation of this section, is that the President could choose ANY candidate who is Senate confirmed to take the job.\u00a0The most recent example of this was when Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, was placed in charge of the Consumer and Finance Protection Bureau after the resignation of Jim Cordrey. Mulvaney has proceeded to hamper the Bureau\u2019s protective actions, but as he was a Senate confirmed (for OMB) officer, he got the job.<\/p>\n

The appointment of Matt Whitaker as \u201cActing Attorney General\u201d may be an act to slow or stop the Mueller investigation, but, hard to imagine, there is an even more important legal question.\u00a0 By reading of the law, Mr. Whitaker, NOT Senate confirmed, is not eligible to lead the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

The White House has embraced a minority interpretation of the Vacancies Act in order to pursue their political agenda.\u00a0 When it all goes to Court, it is likely that the Whitaker appointment is not allowed by law: it is in fact illegal.\u00a0 The problem is, will \u00a0Whitaker\u2019s current presence achieve the White House goal; \u00a0ending the Mueller Investigation before the Courts can reach a legal conclusion? \u00a0Among all the rest, that\u2019s the grave \u00a0Constitutional issue the nation faces today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above the Law Attorney General Jeff Sessions, at the request of the President of the United States, resigned from his office on Wednesday.\u00a0 The phrase, \u201c\u2026serve at the pleasure of the President,\u201d applies to Cabinet positions (called principal officers in the Constitution) as well as other positions in the Executive Branch.\u00a0 Like it or not, … Continue reading “Above the Law”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAbove the Law : Our America - 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