Explainer | What are US recess appointments and why has Donald Trump suggested using them?
Several nominees for top posts have drawn fire for being unqualified, but there is a way to seat them without hearings or a Senate vote
Following his election on November 5, US president-elect Donald Trump has moved quickly to nominate candidates for top spots in his administration, a notable contrast with the start of his first term in 2017, when – in keeping with other new presidents – it took weeks to name and seat his preferred lieutenants.
Under US law, cabinet heads and other top picks must be confirmed by the Senate. The authors of the US Constitution established the system to provide a check on executive power amid concern that the president not acquire kinglike powers.
In Trump’s history of unconventional, norm-busting moves, tee up one more: a proposal on social media to make wholesale use of recess appointments to muscle through his nominees for top spots in his cabinet and other leading roles.
Recess appointments would let him install his nominees without lengthy hearings or Senate votes.
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Such a recess would not occur for weeks, until some point after Trump becomes president on January 20, 2025.
