RawStory: Conservative calls on Mike Johnson to block Trump plan to 'eviscerate' Senate rules

[Dennis Donovan]

RawStory - Conservative calls on Mike Johnson to block Trump plan to 'eviscerate' Senate rules

Travis Gettys
November 14, 2024 1:17PM ET



A conservative legal activist who landed in hot water during Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings called on House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to ensure that Donald Trump's second-term nominees be subjected to the same scrutiny as the U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Ed Whelan, a distinguished fellow Ethics and Public Policy Center, published an op-ed Thursday in the Washington Post urging the House speaker to block an attempted power grab by the president-elect that would bypass the legislative check on executive appointees.

The U.S. Constitution gives the Senate power to reject the appointments of what Alexander Hamilton called "unfit characters," and Whelan said Johnson was uniquely positioned to stop Trump's plan to get around the Senate's advisory role to install unqualified loyalists like Matt Gaetz to his Cabinet.

"It appears that the Trump team is working on a scheme to allow Trump to recess-appoint his Cabinet officers," wrote Whelan, who took a leave of absence from his role with the think tank after speculating on social media about Kavanaugh's rape accuser. "This scheme would exploit an obscure and never-before-used provision of the Constitution (part of Article II, Section 3) stating that 'in Case of Disagreement' between the houses of Congress, 'with Respect to the Time of Adjournment,' the president 'may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.'"

/snip

[Dr. Shepper]

1. Good luck with that

Republicans own all of this.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Hahaha! That fuck was one of the J6 planners.

[orangecrush]

3. "Unfit characters"

Hamilton had foresight.

[BlueTsunami2018]

4. Yeah right. He's all about the christofascist state.

We’ll get no help from him.

[bluestarone]

5. Here we are again. Another Pence moment.

Except mike is our pence. mike will not do what pence did. Plain and Simple!

[BlueKota]

6. Like that will happen.

[Deminpenn]

7. When did Mike Johnson become a senator?

The House has no say in confirming presidential appointments.

The Senate has the advise and consent confirmation duty.

[malaise]

8. LOL

😀
Rec

[Dennis Donovan]

10. In order for Trump to get recess appts, both the Senate and the House have to be out of session

I think that's where Johnson comes into play.

[Solly Mack]

11. The House under Johnson's leadership could create the circumstances that trigger

the adjournment powers of the president, forcing a recess of both chambers, and allowing for recess appointments, bypassing the Senate.

You'll find that power to the president in Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution. It's never been used before.

The article explains all this too.

[NYC Liberal]

12. But at that point, if a majority of both houses agree on this,

why don’t they just adjourn themselves?

[Shrek]

16. This piece has a good explainer

https://archive.is/iEBwj

The process Whelan describes would involve the House introducing a resolution to adjourn both chambers for 10 days, the duration mandated in the 2014 National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning decision. If the Senate agreed, the recess would be effected and Trump could make his appointments. If it declined? Trump would rely on another part of the Constitution.

The president, Article II, Section 3 states, “may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses” — that is, the House and Senate — “or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.” So if the Senate doesn’t agree to adjourn, the theory goes, Trump could just adjourn them.

(snip)

The cascade of possibilities, then, looks like this. Gaetz endures an unquestionably rough set of hearings and is presented to the full Senate for confirmation. He gets it. Or, maybe, he comes up short in vote-counting and the Senate agrees to adjourn to allow Trump to appoint him anyway. (This saves some wavering Republicans from primary campaign ads targeting them for disloyalty to the president.) Maybe this even becomes the plan from the get-go, allowing Gaetz to skip the hearings in the first place. If the Senate won’t vote to adjourn (also a motion that can’t be filibustered), perhaps the dispute-between-the-branches mechanism is implemented.

[NYC Liberal]

18. Yeah, if all Democrats refuse and a couple of Republicans join,

that would be enough.

However, I would argue in that case it would be better for Democrats to agree to adjourn because the Adjournment Clause would allow him to adjourn congress for however long he chooses. He could force them to adjourn for a year.

Effectively, either way the appointments will happen, so we’d have to choose the least bad option.

[Solly Mack]

17. Yes, and recess appointments can be made. Either way, Trump gets his recess appointments.

The Senate could claim pro forma sessions, technically not adjourned, but I get the feeling MAGA members have anticipated that move, and Trump, using his power given by the Constitution, won't wait for that and will adjourn both chambers himself.

Once adjourned by the President, when Congress convenes again is at the president's discretion.

He would only need a day or two to sign all the recess appointments.

Course, he could just roll the dice to see how the senate votes on his nominees.

I don't know how this will play out.

But I don't put anything past Trump and his cohorts.

[Ex Lurker]

13. It's not about confirmation

it's about not giving Trump the opportunity to adjourn Congress and make his recess appointments. All Johnson has to do is make sure there's no disagreement between the House and Senate on when to adjourn.

[republianmushroom]

9. Not going to happen Mikey is a good trumper.

[MineralMan]

14. What Would Mike Johnson Have to Do with It?

Confirmations come from the Senate.

[Cha]

15. Yeah, mr FAKE "christian".