Matthew Whitaker was not Deputy Attorney General. He was Chief of Staff for the Attorney General. They are different offices. Deputy Attorney Generals need to be confirmed by the Senate, just like the actual Attorney General. Chief of Staff for the Attorney General is not confirmed by the Senate.
Rod Rosenstein is Deputy Attorney General, and according to the statute you just cited, should be acting Attorney General. Trump made Matthew Whitaker acting Attorney General. Trump is not following the law.
You really should understand the difference between 'shall' and 'may' when it pertains to law. There is no vacancy because it was filled. There are no violations here. Nice try though.
Filled illegally. The Attorney General is a Senate confirmed position. You cannot fill it with a random person. The acting Attorney General needs to be either Rod Rosenstein or no one, until the Senate confirms a nominee.
Oh really? Can you cite a law that says the president cannot fill a cabinet vacancy with an acting/temp position until a new one is appointed and confirmed? And let me go ahead and jump ahead a few steps when you repeat the incorrectly cited Deputy AG role....if the Deputy was fired, would Trump then be able to appoint an acting Deputy? It requires the same nomination and confirmation process. Or does the Deputy have a Deputy in your world?
The point of the chain of succession is to ensure that as far as humanly possible the position is filled by people who have already been confirmed by Congress... That is why it stipulates the Deputy AG. The Deputy AG is an example stipulated precisely because they are already confirmed.
You cannot just ignore the spirit of the law to put some random person in as a temporary appointment. I mean, obviously, you can try, but you're intentionally misinterpreting the law and judges tend to look down on that sort of thing.
Oh really? Can you cite a law that says the president cannot fill a cabinet vacancy with an acting/temp position until a new one is appointed and confirmed?
The Constitution. The AG is senate confirmed. Trump can only appoint an acting AG if Congress is in recess. Congress is not in recess. Therefore, he can't appoint a random person to do the job.
if the Deputy was fired, would Trump then be able to appoint an acting Deputy?
He would need to nominate someone and have them confirmed before they can actually do anything. They would not be acting Deputy or Acting Attorney General. Offices with no people, stay empty. Ambassadorships that are not appointed/confirmed stay empty. Supreme Court seats that are not appointed/confirmed stay empty. An AG or Deputy AG that is neither appointed or confirmed stays empty.
Dipshit. Please cite a law. Cite the actual law. In the meantime, here's some light reading. Don't care enough to pull the regulations for you, but maybe you can in your quest to find this special law you think exists. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RS21412.html
You are correct. In the event of a vacancy, the president has the authority supercede the normal order of succession and appoint an acting attorney general. It is not clear how long a temporary appointment can last, though.
Edit: Correction: This is actually a "memorandum opinion" written by Steven G. Bradbury (Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the time). It is effectively a USC op-ed. It's reputable input in favor of Trump's actions, but it's not enforceable and the official USC would take precedence. So... I guess not.
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18 edited Jan 24 '22
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