Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) responded to a question about whether he thinks Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) would be confirmed by the Senate by pointing to “recess appointments.”
In a video posted to X by Haley Talbot, a reporter with CNN, Massie was asked if he thought Gaetz would be confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as the Attorney General.
“Do you think he’ll get confirmed by the Senate?” a reporter asked Massie, to which Massie could be heard responding, “recess appointments.”
“He’s the Attorney General,” Massie added. “Suck it up!”
Under Article II of the United States Constitution, the President has the “Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”
Article II, Section 2, Clause 3 reads:
The Recess Appointments Clause, authorizing the President to make temporary appointments when the Senate is not in session, was adopted by the Constitutional Convention without dissent and without debate regarding the intent and scope of its terms. In the Federalist No. 67, Alexander Hamilton refers to the recess appointment power as “nothing more than a supplement . . . for the purpose of establishing an auxiliary method of appointment, in cases to which the general method was inadequate.” It is generally accepted that the Clause was designed to enable the President to ensure the unfettered operation of the government during periods when the Senate was not in session and therefore unable to perform its advice and consent function. In addition to fostering administrative continuity, Presidents have exercised authority under the Recess Appointments Clause for political purposes, appointing officials who might have difficulty securing Senate confirmation.
Massie’s words come after President-elect Donald Trump announced that Gaetz had been selected to serve as the Attorney General under his incoming administration.
Trump praised Gaetz as being a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney,” who had been “trained at the William & Mary College of Law.”
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