Page 2 - Vacancy Act News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

By Mike Cummings May 4, 2021 Share this with FacebookShare this with TwitterShare this with LinkedInShare this with EmailPrint this (Illustration by Michael S. Helfenbein) Presidential nominees to top-level executive positions make headlines, and occasionally produce drama, but their experiences in the media’s glare do not provide a full picture of how presidents approach, and often game, the Senate confirmation process. A recent study by Yale political scientist Christina M. Kinane shifts the focus away from the prospects or fate of individual nominees to examine the frequent instances whe...

Justice officials have been weighing in on the question of whether whittaker's appointment was constitutional mainly because he hasn't been confirmed by the senate. because the attorney general is a principle officer he would require senate confirmation. the justice department in a 20-page memo to the white house today says this is constitutional. this is valid. and they offer a variety of different justifications for it. stick with me because this is something of a legal rabbit hole. they say there is a statute called vacancy act which says if you are a senior enough official, you are at a ce...

Constitutionality of matt whitaker's appointment as the acting attorney general of the united states. you're on the judiciary committee, you are a lawyer. how strong is that argument in your view? >> the justice department is wrong. here is why. if we allow a president to simply take any cabinet official, force them to resign, and then install an employee that's not been confirmed by the senate, then there's no telling what future presidents could do. we can't have a situation where the senate confirmed nominee is then removed and someone who is not senate confirmed is put in that person's pla...

Only qualification seems to be that he wants to be -- the president wants him to be the hatchet man to destroy the mueller investigation. >> be that as it may, you know, when you called whitaker's appointment illegal, the law in this case -- the federal vacancy reform act of 1988 authorizes the president to replace attorney general jeff sessions with any official as long as they're acting capacity fewer than 210 days. regardless of your opinion of mr. whitaker, he meets those requirements. >> well, i don't think so. regardless of the vacancy act, you cannot have an attorney general or for that...

Trusts. >> he should. and he asked for the resignation and didn't let him stay to the end of the week. methe question becomes who can u appoint. he may very well have had statutory authority to appoint matt whitaker who was chief of staff to jeff sessions. he had been there for more than 90 days which is the magic term under the applicable statute. one statute is the vacancies act which specifies the president can appoint in a couple of ways. one of which would involve appointing someone in matt whitaker's position. the vacancy act says it's exclusive unless there is another statute that apply...