Opinion ID: 2824665
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: vacancy statutes

Text: The FVRA is a response to what Chief Justice John Marshall called “the various crises of human affairs”—problems that arise when our Constitution confronts the realities of practical governance. M’Culloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316, 415 (1819). Specifically, the Appointments Clause generally requires “Officers of the United States” to be nominated by the President “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate.” U.S. CONST. art. II, § 2, cl. 2. Advice and consent is “more than a matter of etiquette or protocol”; it is a “structural safeguard[]” intended to “curb Executive abuses of the appointment power” and to “promote a judicious choice of persons for filling the offices of the union.” Edmond v. United States, 520 U.S. 651, 659 (1997) (quotation marks and alterations omitted). But vacancies can occur unexpectedly (due to death, resignation, illness, etc.) and the 3 confirmation process takes time. See ANNE JOSEPH O’CONNELL, WAITING FOR LEADERSHIP at 10 fig. 5 (2010) (finding average lag time of 190 days between vacancy and confirmation). To keep the federal bureaucracy humming, the President needs the power to appoint acting officers who can serve on a temporary basis without first obtaining the Senate’s blessing. Since the “beginning of the nation,” the Congress has given the President this power through vacancy statutes. Doolin Sec. Sav. Bank, F.S.B. v. Office of Thrift Supervision, 139 F.3d 203, 209–10 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (citing, inter alia, Act of May 8, 1792, ch. 37, § 8, 1 Stat. 279, 281). 1 The predecessor to the FVRA, the Vacancies Act, was first enacted in 1868. See Act of July 23, 1868, ch. 227, 15 Stat. 168. The Vacancies Act allowed the President to fill vacancies with temporary acting officers, subject to limitations on whom he could appoint and how long the appointee could serve. See Pub. L. No. 89-554, 80 Stat. 378, 426 (Sept. 6, 1966); Pub. L. No. 100-398, 102 Stat. 985, 988 (Aug. 17, 1988). Presidents, however, have not always complied with the Vacancies Act. See MORTON ROSENBERG, CONG. RESEARCH SERV., 98-892 A, THE NEW VACANCIES ACT: CONGRESS ACTS TO PROTECT THE SENATE’S CONFIRMATION PREROGATIVE 2–3 (1998). By 1998, an estimated 20% of all officers in positions requiring presidential nomination and Senate confirmation (PAS positions) were serving in a temporary acting capacity, 1 The Constitution also partially addresses this problem. The President can temporarily fill vacancies “that may happen during the Recess of the Senate.” U.S. CONST. art. II, § 2, cl. 3. But the Recess Appointments Clause is an incomplete answer because the President may need to install an acting officer before the Senate’s next recess. 4 many well beyond the time limits prescribed in the Vacancies Act. See id. at 1. Nor was the Vacancies Act particularly amenable to judicial enforcement. In Doolin, for example, we did not decide whether the acting director of the Office of Thrift Supervision lacked statutory authority because we determined that any error in his appointment was cured. See 139 F.3d at 214. We relied on the doctrine of ratification: because the director’s decision was later approved by a properly appointed director, any defect in his appointment was immaterial. See id. at 212–14. Our decision in Doolin, along with the President’s appointment of Bill Lann Lee to be Acting Attorney General of Civil Rights in 1997, prompted congressional action. See ROSENBERG, supra, at 1, 8. In June 1998, Senators Fred Thompson, Robert Byrd, Strom Thurmond and others introduced the FVRA to strengthen, and ultimately replace, the Vacancies Act. See 144 CONG. REC. S6413–14 (daily ed. June 16, 1998) (statement of Sen. Thompson). The statute was framed as a reclamation of the Congress’s Appointments Clause power. See id. at S6413 (“This legislation is needed to preserve one of the Senate’s most important powers: the duty to advise and consent on presidential nominees.”); S. REP. NO. 105-250, at 5 (1998) (“If the Constitution’s separation of powers is to be maintained, . . . legislation to address the deficiencies in the operation of the current Vacancies Act is necessary. . . . [T]he Senate’s confirmation power is being undermined as never before.”). After some amendment, the FVRA was enacted in October 1998. See Pub. L. No. 105-277, div. C, tit. I, § 151. The FVRA provides that, in the event of a vacancy in a PAS position, the “first assistant” automatically takes over in an acting capacity. 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(1). The President can also choose to appoint a senior employee from the same agency or a PAS officer from another agency to serve as the acting 5 officer. Id. § 3345(a)(3), (a)(2). Generally speaking, an acting officer can serve no longer than 210 days and cannot become the permanent nominee for the position. See id. §§ 3346; 3345(b). Moreover, in response to Doolin, the FVRA renders actions taken by persons serving in violation of the Act void ab initio. See id. § 3348(d)(1)–(2) (“An action taken by any person who is not acting [in compliance with the FVRA] shall have no force or effect” and “may not be ratified.”); see also 144 CONG. REC. S6414 (explaining that the FVRA “impose[s] a sanction for noncompliance,” thereby “[o]verruling several portions of [Doolin]”); S. REP. NO. 105-250, at 5 (“The Committee . . . finds that th[e ratification] portion of [Doolin] demands legislative response. . . .”).