SO. I hear people are curious about the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 this morning. Here's a thread.
We've had a few times already this administration where the Vacancies Reform Act has mattered. Remember Sally Yates? The summer talk about Sessions? Rich Cordray and the CFPB? Shulkin and the VA?
The law is an attempt to keep government offices running smoothly when an important office is vacant, and it is found in 5 USC 3345 —> law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/…
In the case of the Justice Department, a presidential executive order setting forth the order of succession at DOJ has been issued —> whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…
There also is a statute about who takes over at DOJ to handle the "duties of the office of Attorney General" in certain circumstances: law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28… 
Under *that* law, the AG can set his or her *own* order of succession. Former AG Lynch had an order in place, which DOJ previously told us Sessions did not alter. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4361…
Wait, though, how can there be two laws controlling what appears to be the same thing? Because there are! And DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel previously said that's cool. justice.gov/sites/default/…
The big difference between the two options is that Trump would have the ability to appoint someone to serve as acting deputy attorney general under the FVRA. The other law, meanwhile, just sets forth a list of people who can serve.
One big question people are asking today is about whether the FVRA applies when a person is fired. Back when the law went into effect, OLC acknowledged the law was not clear, but suggested that firing was intended to be covered. justice.gov/sites/default/…
There is some debate on this point, and it became an issue when Shulkin left the VA. Here are two stories about that: politico.com/story/2018/03/… / lawfareblog.com/federal-vacanc…
The other issue here is that, due to Sessions' recusal, both laws could be applicable. If Rosenstein resigns or is fired, DOJ has said previously that an "acting" DAG would not take over for matters in which the AG is recused.
As such, either 508 would control, or the FVRA could apply to most of Rosenstein's duties (if Trump chose an acting DAG) and 508 would apply to recused matters.
For a look on who Trump could choose as acting DAG under the FVRA — and it's a big group — see this story from me and @jsvine (about Sessions, but, still within DOJ) —> buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
