Trump Preserves Senate Oversight By Bypassing Confirmation
President Donald Trump celebrated a victory for constitutional checks and balances Thursday by preparing to withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general while allowing Blanche to continue running the Justice Department without Senate confirmation. The arrangement preserves the Senate’s sacred authority to approve Cabinet officials by ensuring its disapproval produces no practical result. “Nobody respects advice and consent more than me,” Trump said. “I respect it so much that Todd can do the whole job without their advice and without their consent, which is actually much more respectful.”
The breakthrough followed the Senate Judiciary Committee’s postponement of Blanche’s confirmation vote after Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis requested written assurances that the administration would not revive a proposed $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund connected to Trump’s IRS lawsuit settlement. The senators also sought guarantees concerning protections against Trump family tax audits, briefly confusing oversight with the quaint notion that federal law should apply to identifiable people. By declining to provide sufficiently decorative paperwork, the White House demonstrated that congressional scrutiny works best when Congress is maintained as an ornamental shrub near the executive branch.
Trump suggested leaving Blanche in an acting capacity until Cornyn and Tillis depart office next January, giving the Senate several months to reconsider why it thought senators participated in presidential appointments. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s delayed vote was likewise hailed as a show of legislative muscle: the committee prevented Blanche from receiving the title through confirmation while doing nothing to prevent him from exercising the authority without it. Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, will remain the nation’s chief law enforcement officer under the increasingly durable constitutional doctrine of “he is already in the building.” Administration allies called the plan a balanced compromise in which senators withhold approval, Trump withholds the nomination and Blanche withholds any detectable change in power. The Senate’s advice and consent had therefore been fully honored by requiring neither advice nor consent.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.