Event

Virtual Event – “Advice and Consent”

December 4, 2024

 

The Constitution’s appointments clause grants the Senate the power of advice and consent over presidential appointments. This key feature of our constitutional architecture has provided dramatic political flashpoints, inspired legal and constitutional debates, and even served as the basis for novels and and films.

The dialogue that the advice and consent process demands between the president-elect and the Senate dominates today’s headlines. It is already shaping the contours of a second Trump administration, which has made provocative picks and mused about remaking—or side-stepping—the Senate’s ordinary procedures.

We hosted an exclusive webinar that considered the constitutional theory, law, and historical practice of senatorial advice and consent. We also covered tactics a president may use to sidestep Senate review, such as recess appointments and the use of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to install “acting” officials. Watch the playback here.

This event was on the record and open to press; for media inquiries, please contact Communications Director Tony Franquiz at [email protected].

Featured Speakers

Molly Reynolds

Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution

 

Edward Whelan

Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center

 

Andy Craig

Fellow, Institute for Humane Studies and Adjunct Scholar, CATO Institute

 

Gregg Nunziata

Executive Director,
Society for the Rule of Law

 

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News & Updates

Original Content

Senate Judiciary Committee Written Testimony

January 14, 2025
Media Mention

Gregg Nunziata in The Washington Post

January 13, 2025