Question on cabinet appointments

[NYC Liberal]

Say Bush gets re-elected. Do the cabinet members that *do* stay have to be re-confirmed by the Senate? Or are they only confirmed once at the beginning of the first term?

If they do have to be re-confirmed, and we take the Senate, hopefully we can get rid of the real fascists, like AssCrack.

[SheilaT]

1. When a president is re-elected

his administration simply continues in place. Cabinet members who stay are not re-confirmed. And it is not very common for a cabinet member not to be confirmed. I can't think of a time when that's happened. The confirmation process is simply a formality. Supreme Court Justices, now that's another story. Sometimes the confirmation process works, in that a nominee isn't confirmed, which is why we don't have a Justice Bork, for instance.

[NYC Liberal]

2. What about impeaching cabinet members?

Is it possible? What's the process if so?

I'm just thinking about what we could do if we take the Senate and Bush is re-elected.

[SheilaT]

3. Off the top of my head

I'm not aware of any provisions to impeach cabinet members, but this isn't something I'm very familiar with.

Even if we take back the Senate, don't harbor any delusions about an impeachment process. It simply isn't going to happen.

We're at the beginning of a long, slow decline, which is going to culminate at some point in a major crisis which will change this country much the way the Depression and WWII did. Or earlier, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Even if Kerry is elected and both houses of Congress go Democrat, we're not magically going to return to a pre-Bush, pre-Sept11th world.

[liberalpragmatist]

4. Bush Sr.'s First Defense Sec Pic Was Defeated

Sen. John Tower. Of course we know who poppy picked instead.

More frequently, presumptive nominees simply withdraw from consideration if it becomes clear they won't win confirmation. Linda Chavez as Labor Sec. for instance. Clinton's first two AG picks.

[SheilaT]

5. Thank you.

But it's sufficiently rare, that you have to go back 16 years to find one who wasn't confirmed.