Donald Trump said over the weekend that he wants the Senate to allow him to make recess appointments, a constitutional provision that allows a president to circumvent the Senate's advice and consent function to install his choices without a Senate vote.
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote in a post on X. “Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!”
Trump shouldn't need to do recess appointments.
First, recess appointments are supposed to be for temporary appointments, not full-blown Cabinet members, as Trump is demanding.
Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 67 that recess appointments should be “nothing more than a supplement… to make temporary appointments during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.''
Second, Republicans will be in the majority when Trump is sworn in, with at least 52 votes. Senate nominees need a simple majority for confirmation, after the Senate nixed the filibuster for presidential nominees. Because of that, Republicans should be able to get Trump's picks through—even with a few defections from their own party.
So the fact that Trump is demanding the Senate allow recess appointments is a likely sign that he knows that his picks are so extreme that even a GOP Senate wouldn't confirm them.
For example, Trump has said he wants Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take a leading role in the country’s health—a terrifying prospect as Kennedy is an anti-vaxxer who also wants to get rid of fluoride in the country’s water systems, something that could lead to a rise in dental decay and infections in children.
Trump is also reportedly eyeing Kash Patel to head the CIA, NBC News reported. Patel is a conspiracy theorist and MAGA loyalist who wants to shut down the FBI and target anyone who was involved in the probe into Trump’s collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign.
The three Senate Republicans running to replace Mitch McConnell as leader all quickly came out to say they support Trump’s demand to make recess appointments—a bad sign for anyone hoping that the Senate would serve as a backstop to Trump’s dictatorial impulses.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who is seen as a long shot for the role, was first out the gate to back Trump, writing on X: “100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible.”
Texas Sen. John Cornyn suggested recess appointments won’t be his first route, but expressed openness to allowing them.
“It is unacceptable for Senate Ds to blockade President @realDonaldTrump ‘s cabinet appointments. If they do, we will stay in session, including weekends, until they relent,” he posted on X. “Additionally, the Constitution expressly confers the power on the President to make recess appointments.”
And South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the leading contender to replace McConnell, also suggested he’d be okay with recess appointments.
“We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” , he wrote on X: We cannot let Schumer and Senate Dems block the will of the American people.”
Even if Trump wants to make recess appointments, it’s unclear if he’d be able to.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that the Senate has to be in a true recess for 10 full days in order for a president to make a recess appointment.
“Of course, now that Congress is effectively a year-round operation, the Recess Appointments Clause has become all-but anachronistic,” legal expert Steve Vladeck wrote in a piece examining whether Trump truly could make recess appointments. “The last time either chamber adjourned before mid-December was 2002. The Senate instead began using ‘pro forma’ sessions in the mid-2000s—at least partly to prevent President George W. Bush from making recess appointments.”
However, given the fact that the current Supreme Court has ruled that Trump is above the law, never put it past them to change the rules to allow Trump to get his way.
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