RELEASE: Civil Rights and Democracy Groups Join Forces to Oppose Preemptive Recess Appointments

Rule of Law

RELEASE: Civil Rights and Democracy Groups Join Forces to Oppose Preemptive Recess Appointments

Dozens of organizations sign letter to Senate

WASHINGTON D.C. – A total of 70 national civil rights and pro-democracy organizations today sent a joint letter to the Senate, demanding that it uphold its critical constitutional responsibility to advise and consent on presidential nominations to the executive and judicial branches. The letter delivery was organized and led by People For the American Way in collaboration with Public Citizen, the Constitutional Accountability Center, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

You can read the letter in full here.

The letter comes as President-elect Donald Trump is urging incoming Republican Senate leadership to let him bypass the Senate confirmation process and make recess appointments of his chosen nominees. It echoes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s defense of the Senate’s constitutional role earlier this week, when he called on incoming Majority Leader John Thune to “process each nominee by reviewing standard FBI background-investigation materials, scheduling hearings and markups in the committees of jurisdiction, and considering nominees on the Senate floor.”

“If you’re trying to ram through nominees without Senate and public scrutiny, it’s a pretty good guess that you have something to hide,” said People For the American Way President Svante Myrick. “The American people deserve full vetting of every person selected to serve in our nation’s highest offices and Trump’s nominees are no exception.”

“The Constitution’s requirement of Senate ‘Advice and Consent’ for certain high-ranking officers can provide an important check on a president’s ability to install officers who are wholly unqualified or unsuitable for office. It’s difficult to understand why a president-elect would preemptively threaten recess appointments when the Senate is controlled by the president-elect’s own party — unless one considers the extreme and dangerous nature of many of the names being suggested for these incredibly important positions. The Senate should rigorously and impartially vet these nominees. Senators who ignore their constitutional role ignore their duty to the American people,” said Praveen Fernandes, Vice President, Constitutional Accountability Center.

“The Senate must do their job and thoroughly vet nominees for critical positions across government. To do otherwise is a dereliction of duty and neglects the Senate’s key constitutional responsibility to assess and vote on those nominated by the President. Donald Trump’s aggressive demand for recess appointment in lieu of usual process is yet another demonstration of his view that he is above the law, above other branches of government, and should be unilaterally allowed to do whatever he chooses. The Senate must not give in to his overreaching, irrational request,” said Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen.

“By urging the Senate to bypass the confirmation process and allow mass recess appointments for his cabinet and other executive branch nominations, President-elect Trump is attempting to do an end run around a key check on presidential power at a time of dwindling checks and balances,” said CREW President Noah Bookbinder. “Using recess appointments in this way goes against the strong intention of the Constitution’s framers to limit executive power. It only emphasizes Trump’s desire to skirt the guardrails in our system to prevent abuses and unlawful behavior, and it would deny the public a vital opportunity to hear about the merits and qualifications of his nominees. The Senate should do everything in its power to ensure that President-elect Trump adheres to the confirmation process and to avoid mass recess appointments that will only serve to further erode democratic institutions and the public’s trust in government.”

The organizations’ letter concludes that “Senators are elected to do a job. Every senator should have the dignity and fortitude to demand that the Senate exercise its constitutional responsibility to rigorously and impartially vet, and then vote on whether to confirm, the nominees of the incoming president.”

Organizations signing the letter include: