Anne Joseph O'Connell

3.2K posts

Anne Joseph O'Connell

@AJosephOConnell

Administrative law & bureaucracy obsessed professor at Stanford; writing book, Stand-Ins (on temporary leaders in government, business, & religion)

Stanford, CA Katılım Temmuz 2015

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·15 Şub

How many actings are there in federal agencies? A thread. First take—cabinet secretaries. At end of Trump’s 3rd year, he has had 30 acting secretaries & 24 confirmed ones. In 8 years, Obama had 23 acting & 32 confirmed ones; Bush 43 had 22 acting & 34 confirmed cabinet heads. 1/

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Tem

@HoffProf @ssnyderinq Well, I hope they are right about Stanford. 4 percent is better than 8 percent as the truism goes.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Tem

@HoffProf I thought Parliamentarian got rid of the international student exclusion (that's also what the article says).

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Anne Joseph O'Connell retweetledi

Lawfare@lawfare·14 Nis

Since taking office President Trump has fired the board members of independent agencies, like the FTC, Inter-American Foundation, African Development Foundation, and NLRB. @AJosephOConnell explores whether the president had the legal and constitutional authority to do so.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·19 Kas

@KDbyProxy @EricColumbus :) I am actually trying to spend time over with the pretty sky instead. When I was untenured, I collected number of kids (and more relevant info) at time of nomination for hundreds of PAS officials. First time I got to check out the kid column, thanks to Eric.

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Ira 'Greybeard Homer' Goldman 🦆🦆🦆@KDbyProxy·19 Kas

@AJosephOConnell @EricColumbus Could you be a little faster next time?

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Eric Columbus@EricColumbus·19 Kas

Trump just tapped former congressman Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation. Fun project for someone: find out whether Duffy would set the record for Cabinet member with the most kids (nine).

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·19 Kas

Must I answer queries on whether Patriot Mindset is correct about the Federal Vacancies Reform Act? Ladies and gentlemen, they are not correct. (And I defended much of Trump's use of the FVRA the last time round, at least on legality).

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·17 Kas

@joshgerstein @jacklgoldsmith I think they can use SGEs — fewer disclosures (especially financial). Like Anita Dunn in the Biden Administration. DOGE is not going to be a FACA committee.

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Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein·17 Kas

@AJosephOConnell @jacklgoldsmith What if it's not a committee or lacks fixed membership? Perhaps will be deemed consultants?

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Jack Goldsmith@jacklgoldsmith·17 Kas

Trump says the Dep’t of Gov’t Efficiency (DOGE) "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government.” DOGE will thus be a Federal Advisory Committee, 5 USC App. 3, and subject to transparency and recordkeeping requirements, see 5 USC App. 10. Should be fun to behold.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·16 Kas

@Thomas_A_Berry @VolokhC @IlyaSomin A tiny technical thing: Su was not serving under the FVRA so the Act’s restrictions on nominees (which she satisfies as you note) don’t actually apply. It’s like the Gina Haspel case in Trump 1.0.

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Thomas Berry@Thomas_A_Berry·15 Kas

What are recess appointments, why has the Senate not allowed them for a decade, and what is Trump's argument that he can force a recess against the Senate's will? I explain in my guest post today on @VolokhC (with thanks to @IlyaSomin for inviting me). reason.com/volokh/2024/11…

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·16 Kas

@BrianDFeinstein @HillaryClinton @DOGE I also think if they are advising Trump, the Supremes are not going to find them subject to FACA on separation of powers grounds.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·16 Kas

@BrianDFeinstein Why wouldn't they make Elon & Vivek SGEs (so government employees, with fewer COI constraints)? They won't have to file public disclosures, FACA wouldn't apply, etc. See Anita Dunn in the Biden Administration. washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Kas

@EricColumbus To speed up confirmations — better to have a quick say than no say. The

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Eric Columbus@EricColumbus·11 Kas

@AJosephOConnell Why would it encourage the Senate to change rules?

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Kas

The Senate takes too long to confirm agency nominees, even when the same party controls the WH & Senate—see the Biden Administration. If the threat of recess appointments makes the Senate change its rules to speed up confirmations, that would be a good thing. Better than actings.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Kas

@EricColumbus So under this approach, Trump couldn’t use recess appointments in the way he wants. But the uncertainty about what the Supremes would do could encourage the Senate to change rules.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Kas

@EricColumbus I am thinking the current Supremes are going to take at least the Griffith approach (from the DC Circuit) — recess appointments only in intersession recess. He did not decide whether vacancy had to occur in recess.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Kas

@HumphreyBohun I got a lot of grief from the left (and I am on the left) during Trump 1.0 on my Vacancies Act views but I care about agencies functioning. These recorded votes on assistant secretaries are nuts. Maybe we can cut PAS slots in 2025!

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HumphreyBohun@HumphreyBohun·11 Kas

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·11 Kas

@EricColumbus It is really hard for me to see the Supremes going along with Noel Canning on recess appointments with its current makeup.

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Eric Columbus@EricColumbus·11 Kas

@AJosephOConnell Of course it’s an empty threat unless the senate unilaterally surrenders by doing away with pro forma sessions

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·8 Kas

@fedjudges MSPB is finally full. First term ends in March. The other two not until 2028 and 2030 if folks stay.

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John Doe@fedjudges·8 Kas

If you think Trump will make serious civil service reforms, you should watch how fast he nominates people to OPM, MSPB, and FLRA, and what their past experience is. It’s easy to cry DOGE but the details are more nuanced. Catching a rocket might be easier than lasting changes.

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·8 Kas

@PeterContiBrown Thanks for clarifying! And I think terms matter only at the top, not within an agency. It's because of these other statutory provisions on chairs (that I talk about in the thread).

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Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell·8 Kas

I think there is a strong argument that the Fed Chair cannot be fired at will (see thread below) b/c he has a term. But others disagree, including @PeterContiBrown. Chairs w/o terms (& non PAS chairs) can be demoted to commissioners, which then tees up the Humphrey's Executor ?.

Anne Joseph O'Connell@AJosephOConnell

Let's put market chaos to the side, if possible, for a bit of Admin Law. 1.The majority of independent regulatory commission (and some quasi agency) chairs are chosen by the President, without Senate confirmation (see, for example, the FCC chair). cnn.com/2018/12/22/pol… 1/

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Keşfet

@HoffProf @ssnyderinq @KDbyProxy @EricColumbus @joshgerstein @jacklgoldsmith @Thomas_A_Berry @VolokhC