Senate checks on presidential appointments | US government and civics | Khan Academy

Presidents of the United States have many powers, but perhaps one of the most influential of these powers is the power of appointment. They can, of course, appoint members of their cabinet. They can appoint ambassadors, and they can appoint judges. We could talk about federal judges generally, but perhaps most importantly, they can appoint members of the Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court is a very influential appointment because these are positions that will last for a lifetime.

But this power is not unchecked. These appointments need to be confirmed by the United States Senate, and many times the confirmation process goes relatively smoothly. However, sometimes, especially when we're talking about lifetime judicial appointments, especially to the United States Supreme Court, things can get quite heated. Perhaps the best example of that is something that has happened quite recently relative to the making of this video.

2016 was an election year. In February of 2016, Associate Justice Scalia passed away. Now, this is a really, really big deal because, as we talked about, Supreme Court appointments are for life. In theory, this is a time where the president would make a nomination. Now, the president does make a nomination; President Barack Obama in March of 2016 nominates Merrick Garland.

Now, the Republicans are not happy, and Republicans control both houses of Congress. But most important for this video, they control the Senate. The reason why they are not happy is that Justice Scalia was considered to be the conservative backbone of the United States Supreme Court. If all of a sudden he is replaced with someone who leans to the left, who leans liberal, that could change the tone; that could change the sentiment of the United States Supreme Court for a generation, or maybe even generations to come.

So they invoke their power in the Senate, which is controlled by Mitch McConnell, who's the Senate Majority Leader. He decides to take a hard stance. Even though President Obama had nominated Merrick Garland, the Republicans make the argument that, "Hey, this is a presidential election year; we're just going to wait things out." So they refuse to have hearings on Merrick Garland, much less vote on his nomination. They essentially just wait out the clock through the presidential election.

Then, at the presidential election, you have a Republican get elected, Donald Trump. So then they are able to help get Donald Trump’s appointment for that seat approved. Even that is a little bit of an interesting political story.

This is a classic example of a congressional check on a presidential power, and this one in particular gets people on both sides of the aisle a little bit worked up. Democrats would say, "Wow, you did not consider an appointment by a president, and you waited out many, many, many months just to get an outcome you wanted." While Republicans might say, "Wow, Mitch McConnell was really principled here, and he really used the Senate's constitutional power to place an appropriate check on the president."

I will let you decide.