NYT: Conway (her husband) "Appointment of Whitaker is Unconstitutional"

[grantcart]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/trump-attorney-general-sessions-unconstitutional.html

Neal Katyal and George Conway, writing in the New York Times:

President Trump’s installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the United States after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional. It’s illegal. And it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid.

Much of the commentary about Mr. Whitaker’s appointment has focused on all sorts of technical points about the Vacancies Reform Act and Justice Department succession statutes. But the flaw in the appointment of Mr. Whitaker, who was Mr. Sessions’s chief of staff at the Justice Department, runs much deeper. It defies one of the explicit checks and balances set out in the Constitution, a provision designed to protect us all against the centralization of government power.

If you don’t believe us, then take it from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whom President Trump once called his “favorite” sitting justice. Last year, the Supreme Court examined the question of whether the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board had been lawfully appointed to his job without Senate confirmation. The Supreme Court held the appointment invalid on a statutory ground.

Justice Thomas agreed with the judgment, but wrote separately to emphasize that even if the statute had allowed the appointment, the Constitution’s Appointments Clause would not have. The officer in question was a principal officer, he concluded. And the public interest protected by the Appointments Clause was a critical one: The Constitution’s drafters, Justice Thomas argued, “recognized the serious risk for abuse and corruption posed by permitting one person to fill every office in the government.” Which is why, he pointed out, the framers provided for advice and consent of the Senate

[grantcart]

1. You know that this is going to be the lead on the RMS. Can't wait to see how she sets it up

Will she start with Kelly Anne Conway or Justice Thomas?

[stopbush]

10. I'll check in with Rachel at 20 past the hour, after she gets done with her usual

vocal masturbation setting up a simple story.

[Raven]

2. I don't know how this couple stays together...

the differences between them are so profound, it just boggles the mind.

[grantcart]

6. Unlike Carville and Matalin (who I also don't understand) the Conways cross each other in open oppo

Carville and Matalin didn't really publicly undermine each other.

[dawg day]

3. It's really hard not to speculate about what the evenings are like in that household.

Tell you the truth, I think it's a mild marital conspiracy. They both loathe Trump, but she's making half the family income doing whatever the heck she does at the White House. So when she "lets" him do his op-ed thing, she's hoping she's saving her soul or her reputation. And they can tell the kids, "Mommy doesn't mean any of that stuff she says!"

[octoberlib]

4. Napolitano said this yesterday and Tom Perez,

who was a Assistant Attorney General ,said the same thing on MSNBC, Trump can't appoint even an interim AG unless they've been previously confirmed by the Senate in some other position.

[grantcart]

5. thanks didn't see it

small point, Perez was one step below Deputy, Assistant Attorney General

[octoberlib]

7. What baffles me is not one reporter has brought this up. They keep acting like it's legal that

Trump can do this.So I'm glad Conway and Katyal published this in the NYT.

[stopbush]

11. Ari and Chris Hayes both got into this illegality yesterday on their shows.

So some reporters have been reporting it.

[octoberlib]

13. I didn't see their shows. Thanks!

[Louis1895]

8. I thought this was the case

So why doesn't someone file for an injunction?

[grantcart]

9. so did unblock yesterday. Who has standing to file?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211388685#post25

I would laugh so hard I would give my self a hernia and a tonsillectomy at the same time if Conway files and it is

Conway vs The Government of the United States.

[octoberlib]

14. CREW is suing. Just saw it on Twitter.

[libdem4life]

12. Just a side note, and not to take away from the instructive legal arguments and minds here,but ....

am I the only one who is tired of "Kellyane's husband" label? Can't they at least call him G. Conway? He's the sane one, FFS, and deals in truth, law and learned justice.

Rant over. Carry on.

[grantcart]

16. Normally I would but I can't resist because it is Kellyane.

My mind drafts it as "G. Conway" but my fingers insist on "Kellyane's husband".

[UTUSN]

15. K&R