As President-elect Joe Biden begins to announce his White House and cabinet staff….Republican senator’s advise that they feel he should have his choices approved in confirmation votes….
Biden is sure to try to make things easy for everyone involved….
A few names maybe cause for concern, but one would think that those names will be floated in public or Biden will ask around before naming someone that might become a public battle for him….
This while Majority Leader McConnell races to confirm more conservative judges before new Senate convenes in early January…..
And before we know the results of the Georgia runoff voting , which could have a the chance of giving Democrats control of the Senate next year….
Of course Trump won’t like this because it DOES acknowledge that he’s a gonner in public…
But life IS going on as the America government change moves closer….
Senate Republicans are signaling they will confirm most of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks in January — a rare bright spot for a White House that may clash with a GOP majority for years to come.
Many Republicans won’t even publicly concede that Biden will be the next president while President Donald Trump fights to overturn the election results. But a critical mass of GOP senators said in interviews that Biden has the right to his Cabinet, indicating he may be able to staff his administration largely to his liking….
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Of course, Biden would have far greater flexibility to appoint progressive nominees if Democrats can win the Georgia races on Jan. 5 and control the Senate 50-50 after Kamala Harris is sworn in as vice president. But short of that, avoiding a scorched-earth battle over nominations to start his presidency will be consolation for Biden.
Biden indicated the haggling will begin in days, telling reporters Thursday he will announce his Treasury secretary around Thanksgiving. He said it is a nominee who “will be accepted by all elements of the Democratic Party, from the progressive to the moderate coalitions.” He left out whether Republicans might find it acceptable.
The possibility of split control between the White House and Senate lacks much recent precedent. The last president to be ushered in alongside a Senate of the opposite party was George H.W. Bush, who followed a fellow Republican president and kept some of his predecessor’s Cabinet. The chamber was far less polarized then, but the Senate still rejected John Tower, Bush’s nominee for Defense secretary, showing how perilous the lack of Senate control can be for a new president….
The Biden governing cabinet choice effort….
But Biden could announce his choice for secretary of state as soon as next week, officials said, along with another Cabinet post.
Gonna be all sorts of names floated around for cabinet jobs….
Here’s the latest that would be a stick in the eye to McConnell. eh?….
Federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland is under consideration to serve as attorney general in the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, NPR has learned from two people closely following the process.
Garland, 68, is the widely respected former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He launched his career at the Justice Department decades ago….
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Why would Merrick Garland give up a lifetime seat on the Bench for that?
I am sure he would get easily confirmed for AG though.
I would hope Doug Jones gets that job though.
Garland is just ballon float to stick it to McConnell…
I agree he’s be dumb to accept the spot and he REALLY doesn’t fit ….
He would be up for a Supreme job if one becomes available in the next four years…
I don’t think Mitch McConnell would give it a second thought one way or another. What’s there to “stick to him.” He got his way and will go down in history as one of the most effective Members of Congress ever.
Garland pitched for the DOJ would be interesting as a media story….
I do NOT think he is serious choice….
I disagree on ur Obama/Hillary angle….
From the Hill…
Attorney General William Barr, who came under fire for intervening in politically charged cases, asserted in a speech earlier this year that “all prosecutorial power is invested in the attorney general.”
Others in consideration for the position include former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) and Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who recently lost reelection to his senate seat to GOP Challenger Tommy Tuberville….
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Garland is “too old” for the Supreme Court and too “moderate.” Believe me, if Biden were to pick him for a SCOTUS vacancy, he probably gets through easily.
I stand by my long-held view that Obama was not even really serious about putting him on the Court but knew he would be useful politically for that “fight” about Republicans trying to stop him, etc. Hillary refused to commit to nominating Garland for the spot if she won.
I think the one and only “Republican” in the Cabinet will be Meg Whitman at Commerce.
No Romney for Sec of State if no Rice or even Kerry?
The biggest problem might be if he picks Rahm Emanuel for Transportation… and that will be among Democrats.
Federal Judges occcasionally give up their positions.Some just tire of the fairly cloistered world of the Judiciary.Others do quit for other federal appointments.
Notably three FBI Directors have been by sitting federal judges :William Sessions, Louis Freeh and William Webster.
As for Garland ?Who knows? I guess if it was offered to him,he would consider it.Depends on how much he enjoys the judiciary and whether he is actually looking toward retiring soon and would view being AG as sort of topping off his career.
And Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is about as distinguished, responsible, influential and powerful a judicial post one could hold short of the Supreme Court itself.
Its power to effect, affect or control change might be less immediate than that of the Attorney-General of the United States, but it could last far longer.
Two mid Twentieth Century Supreme Court justices left the Court for other positions.
James F Byrnes left the Court in the early forties after only a few years of service to become Director of War Mobilization and Economic Stablilization .He later serves as Secretary of State and Governor of South Carolina.
Arthur Goldberg inexplicably allowed Lyndon Johnson to convince him to leave tye Court to become Ambassador to the United Nations.I have never understood that one!
Then again, hard as it is to believe some people just either aren’t cut out for or tire of these type positions.
Apparently LBJ gave him the LBJ treatment because he wanted to put Abe Fortas on the Court.
I do not remember how exactly but I believe my paternal grandparents or one of them knew Arthur Goldberg at some time a long time ago. I remember more that my maternal grandfather sold art supplies to a young Hugh Hefner.
Yes that was the apparent ruse.
I’ve always been surprised that Goldberg went along with it.
I mean UN Ambassador????
Maybe he had a side piece in Manhattan?
Abe Fortas. I accidentally calles him Abe Froman in a college paper once.
The Sausage King of the Supreme Court…..
(nobody tell Anita Hill)
Abe Fortas was the lawyer appointed by the Supreme Court to (successfully) represent Clarence Earl Gideon in Gideon v. Wainright (1963).