Can Trump actually confirm his Cabinet’s decisions through recess appointments? –San Bernardino Sun

President-elect Trump is urging Senate Republicans to support his agenda or get out of his way, even going so far as to demand the appointment of his recently announced Cabinet members during recess. Trump has said he wants his Cabinet – including unconventional nominees like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard – in place soon after his inauguration, even if that means the Senate doesn’t vote on it as usual votes for candidates.

To achieve his goal of starting work immediately, Trump is urging the Senate to resign rather than allow senators’ concerns about some of his nominees to delay or jeopardize their confirmation. If senators give in to Trump’s demands, they would allow Trump to unilaterally appoint his Cabinet members. Some observers fear that Trump may even forcibly adjourn the Senate session to advance his nominees, even if senators refuse to agree to his plan.

This has led many to ask: What are these break dates? And can Trump use them to bypass the Constitution’s advice and consent process, in which senators approve or disapprove of the presidential Cabinet’s decisions?

The fact is that procedural maneuvers can only give Trump the Cabinet he wants if senators agree with his decisions and refuse to move out of the way so he can move on without them. In short, Trump needs Senate approval of his nominees, one way or another. He needs senators to confirm his election, or he needs them to adjourn their proceedings long enough to seat her. However, Trump cannot force the Senate to do anything he doesn’t want to.

The Constitution spells out how the confirmation process works. Its Appointments Clause authorizes the President to appoint individuals to serve in the federal government. Additionally, the Senate must approve the president’s nominees before they can be formally appointed. The Constitution’s interim appointment clause authorizes the President to appoint individuals to serve for a limited period of time.

However, the president can only use this power when the Senate is not in session and cannot approve or reject the president’s nominees. The time constraints associated with recess appointments ensure that the government has the people it needs to function without undermining the Senate’s role in the confirmation process.

The Constitution also dictates what must happen before the president can make recess appointments. The Rules of Procedure Clause authorizes the House and Senate to determine how their members make decisions, including how an adjournment (or recess) occurs. Both chambers currently require a simple majority of their members to adjourn.

The Constitution limits how the House and Senate can adjourn by requiring that both chambers agree to adjourn for more than three days. In “exceptional cases,” when the House and Senate cannot agree “as to the timing of adjournment,” the Constitution authorizes the president to prorogue Congress.

Despite these constitutional provisions, recess appointments are not the key to Trump assembling his Cabinet. That’s because Trump only needs to make recess appointments if a majority of the Senate is willing to approve his plan to go into recess. All it takes is a majority in the Senate to even confirm Trump’s nominee. Nominations confirmed by the Senate through the regular confirmation process are preferable to suspension of appointments because their terms do not expire at a specific date.

Relying on recess appointments could even delay the work of the new administration, given how much time must pass before the president can use them. The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that the Senate must not meet for at least 10 days before the president can make recess appointments. Still, Republicans can review Trump’s decisions now and use their majority to speed up the confirmation process in January. Democrats can’t even stop Trump’s nominees from filibustering, after they used the “nuclear option” to eliminate the filibuster for all executive branch nominations in 2013.

And Trump cannot forcibly adjourn Congress if Republicans — or a majority of the Senate — oppose his nominees and are unwilling to adjourn Congress so he can seat them unilaterally. The president’s constitutional authority applies “in the event of a disagreement” between the House and Senate over the length of the adjournment. A Senate majority must act proactively to disagree with the House.