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The Vacancies Act - How Trump Has Used and Abused It, and Might Again
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 08:18:29 +0000 UTCOA1117 - As Donald Trump’s executive branch nominees continue to work their way through the confirmation process, we welcome Stanford Law professor Anne Joseph O’Connell to learn more about one of the most important legal protections we have against a fully imperial presidency. Professor O’Connell is one of the leading academic experts on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the legislation which Trump may or may not have intentionally circumvented in his last term to install acting heads of departments which would otherwise require Senate confirmation, and provides some essential background and context for what we might expect in his second term as his appointments continue to work their way through the confirmation process. Also covered: getting fired by Trump, defending pandas in court, Aileen Cannon and Clarence Thomas’s fringe theory about the unconstitutionality of special counsels, and what Professor O’Connell learned from her time clerking for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“Actings,” Anne Joseph O’Connell, Columbia Law Review (2020)
Bluesky post with Prof. O’Connell’s notice of termination from the Trump administration
Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Comments
FraudFishy
Elephant in the room: Biden and Obama used the act when confirmation by Congress was an impediment based on political biases. T rump is using the act while Rs have the House and Senate. Why use it if Congress is under your thumb?
Oso Hermoso
Why are there all these fucking loopholes in the checks and balances?
Not that millionaire
Professor O’Connell was so good at explaining complex things in an understandable way, really appreciated this.
Michael Rops
If y'all get a chance go look at Rebecca Watson's latest piece on just how bad Tulsi Gabbard is. I didn't know much of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gDvPoFsWYg
KeepingThePlatesSpinning
❤️
wildwytch
Hearing about RBG made me love her even more. Time to boost making the Knitorious RBG sweater to the top of my list of projects
