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Anne Joseph O'Connell Profile picture
Anne Joseph O'Connell
@AJosephOConnell
Administrative law & bureaucracy junkie at Stanford; writing book, Stand-Ins (on temporary leaders in government, business, & religion)
Aug 2, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
This is not the first time. After the Senate did not confirm three nominations for undersecretary positions in 2018, the Secretary of Agriculture named those nominees to deputy positions and then delegated to them the nonexclusive
functions of the vacant positions. 1/ It happened under Obama too. Here's one that crossed administrations. Obama nominated Glenn Fine to be DOD's IG (a 2nd time) in early January 2017. Trump withdrew the nomination but Fine became acting IG (and later did the job through delegation when the time limits ran out). 2/
Jul 22, 2020 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
My take on statutory issues surrounding acting service of McAleenan & Wolf. TL; DR: DHS messed up both succession orders--for McAleenan (was limited to catastrophes) and for Wolf (was done too late). But it is unclear what follows from that. 1/ Most @asylumadvocacy's claims on actings are listed here. Let’s take them in turn. 1) Nielsen's resignation letter said 4/7 so nothing after is valid. Response: She stayed longer, don’t think court is going to hold to the letter. (cf. Mattis letter). 2/
Mar 1, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
(H/t @ReichlinMelnick) Big win for the plaintiffs! Judge Moss holds that Cuccinelli could not be the acting USCIS director as the new principal deputy job he was slotted into was not a legitimate first assistant under the Vacancies Act. A few thoughts: 1/ First, remedies. Moss strikes down 2 directives: reduced-time-to-consult & prohibition-on-extensions (doesn't strike down in-person orientation). Sets aside only individual Plaintiffs’ negative credible-fear determinations & expedited removal orders (new interviews!). No PI. 2/
Feb 14, 2020 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
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/ How long did they serve? Actings secretaries filled 10% of the days in Trump’s 3 years. For Obama’s & Bush43’s two terms, 3% & 2%. (Obama's figure includes several months where there was no confirmed or acting secretary of commerce.) 2/
Nov 17, 2018 • 22 tweets • 9 min read
I have been thinking about actings for 10 years. IMHO, Whitaker legally can be acting AG. But I think Vacancies Act should be changed in following ways. Am close to posting article, Actings, on reforms (as well as legal & policy issues, along with data on recent practices). 1/ These reform ideas come from the uproar on Whitaker, but also from the confusion surrounding the firing of the VA secretary, the competing actings at CFPB last Thanksgiving week, and other past practices (under both Trump and Obama). 2/