President-elect Trump’s victory is an end to business as usual in Washington.
His desire to use recess appointment authority is a clear expression of how serious he is about making the federal government responsive to the will of the American people. Our Founders never envisioned a situation where Congress would schedule make-believe “pro-forma” sessions of Congress for the sole purpose of blocking a president from appointing officials and implementing his agenda.
A recess appointment is not a complex idea. It is a constitutionally recognized power of a president to appoint officials in the executive branch when there are vacancies, and the Congress is in recess. In the Federalist No. 67, Alexander Hamilton refers to the recess appointment power as nothing more than a supplement ... for the purpose of establishing an auxiliary method of appointment, in cases to which the general method was inadequate.” The Senate is tasked with approving nominations, yet it is very slow to transact them.
When President Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20, he face a huge obstruction to his agenda. Tradition holds that the Senate will convene to approve a handful of high-profile Cabinet officials, yet there will be thousands........