Appointment Power

The Constitution gives the Senate the right to confirm or reject presidential appointments to many government positions. Senators sometimes use this “advice and consent” power to press for their own political beliefs and to assert Congress's independence from the executive branch.

Like the authority to approve or reject treaties, the right to review presidents' choices for jobs within the government is given only to the Senate. The House does not vote on presidential nominations, and members rarely have much influence in decisions about which people the president will appoint.

Senators participate in the selection of Supreme Court justices, cabinet officers, ambassadors, and other high-level government officials. Only the president has the formal right to select someone to fill one of those positions. But the Senate has used its power to reject presidential appointments and pressure the president into selecting people more to its liking. In some cases, such as certain federal judgeships, senators traditionally have dictated the selection of nominees.

In the vast majority of cases, however, the Senate's power over appointments is little more than a bureaucratic chore. The Senate typically receives some 20,000 nominations a year, most of which are routine military and civilian appointments and promotions. Routine appointments include those to the Foreign Service and Public Health Service.

The president's nominations even for high-level positions normally are approved by the Senate with little debate or objection. During the first two years of President George W. Bush's administration, the Senate confirmed 419 of 501 nominees to cabinet and sub-cabinet positions, according to the Brookings Institution's Presidential Appointee Initiative. Most senators believe that the president has a right to pick his cabinet officers, unless one of his choices has committed some illegal or unethical action or holds beliefs that are repugnant to most Americans. Since Congress first convened, the Senate has rejected only nine nominees for cabinet positions.

A similar argument often is made about Supreme Court nominations: that the president, who was endorsed by the people in the last election, has the right to name a justice who agrees with the president's legal philosophy. That argument has less force, however, because Supreme Court justices serve for life rather than just for the term of the incumbent president. Twenty-nine Supreme Court nominations (including one person who was nominated twice) have been rejected or dropped as a result of Senate opposition. (See Courts and Congress.)

Scott J. Ferrell, Congressional Quarterly

The effect of the Senate's power is seen most clearly in the small number of cases in which a nominee encounters real opposition. Such opposition may crystallize during committee hearings on a nomination. In many instances presidents or the nominees themselves withdraw an appointment when it becomes clear that many senators are prepared to vote against it. Less often, presidents continue to press an appointment in the face of possible defeat on the Senate floor. An outright rejection of an important nomination usually represents a major political setback for a president.

The Senate rejects presidential appointments for several reasons. Partisan political considerations play a role, as do concerns about the personal conduct and ethics of a nominee. Interest groups and the press also influence the confirmation process. In recent years, narrow partisan majorities in the Senate have led to a number of bitter battles over judicial nominees. When Bill Clinton was president and Republicans controlled the Senate, Democrats complained many of Clinton's nominees never came to votes in the Judiciary Committee or on the Senate floor. Many of those that were confirmed languished for years before they saw action, Democrats contended. Republicans similarly charged Democrats delayed or scuttled President Bush's nominations during the first two years of his administration. The Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee rejected two Bush appellate judicial nominees during the 107th Congress (2001–2003) but also approved one hundred of his judicial nominees—nearly 77 percent of the total number he submitted for consideration.

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