#BESTOF2021: The Constitution and the Removal Debate. @RichardAEpstein @HooverInst
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2023
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
https://www.hoover.org/research/bidens-latest-firings-are-unjustified
"At this point, it is important to address the possible constitutional provisions that might give the president the power to dismiss individuals at will. That discussion begins with the so-called Appointments Clause in Article II, which applies to two kinds of public officers. First are principal officers of the United States, including cabinet secretaries, ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, and most other federal judges. Their appointments require Senate confirmation. The secondary category includes so-called “inferior officers,” over whom Congress has discretion to insist on Senate confirmation or, alternatively, to allow these appointments to be made without Senate confirmation by the president, the judiciary, or the heads of departments." —Richard A Epstein
1909 White House
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a |
| 0:05.0 | CBS I on the world. I'm John Bachelor. I welcome Professor Richard Epstein, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, |
| 0:11.0 | teaches law at NYU and the University of Chicago |
| 0:14.4 | and we immediately get in our time machine and go to 1789, the early hours of the American |
| 0:20.6 | Republican experiment. |
| 0:22.6 | We're looking at the removal debate of 1789 |
| 0:26.0 | having to do with the powers of the executive, |
| 0:28.6 | the executive itself as these founders |
| 0:32.2 | were debating what it is that they have created in their revolution, |
| 0:38.0 | revolt, civil disorder with Mother Britain. |
| 0:43.0 | We go to Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution, which I learned from Richard linking to an article |
| 0:47.8 | by David Elvis and Flag Tailors about the Removal Act. |
| 0:52.1 | Congress, the Constitution says and he shall |
| 0:56.2 | nominate the president and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate |
| 1:00.9 | shall appoint ambassadors other other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the |
| 1:05.6 | Supreme Court and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not |
| 1:10.4 | herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law, but the Congress |
| 1:15.5 | may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the |
| 1:20.8 | president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of department. |
| 1:25.0 | Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States. |
| 1:28.0 | Richard, these dry words begin a debate that we have all the way here till the 21st century and the power of |
| 1:35.8 | the president. Very good evening to you. Yes, I mean what you did was to read |
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