What is a recess appointment? Trump could use this tactic to bypass approval for controversial picks like Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth

President-elect Donald Trump is already making waves with his controversial picks for his new government, and his call on a Republican-controlled Senate to change existing rules and let him appoint those nominees without a vote.

Currently, the Senate must approve nominations for high-level posts, including the cabinet, ambassadorships, inspector general jobs, and the Supreme Court.

Posting on Truth Social and X on Sunday, which people are fleeing due its increasingly partisan tone, Trump unabashedly attempted to pressure the next Senate majority leader, saying “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner.”

(Republicans elected Senator John Thune of South Dakota as their next Senate majority leader, over Trump loyalist Rick Scott.)

In order to understand why Trump is pushing for recess appointments, it’s important to first understand who these nominees are, and why they might not make it through the Senate confirmation process, due to lack of experience, problematic backgrounds, radical views, or a combination of all three.

Who has Trump nominated for his Cabinet so far?

So far, Trump has announced a number of appointees that would need to be confirmed by the Senate.

One of these is Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, for attorney general, who was under investigation for sex trafficking by the Justice Department (which he would now head), and under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over sexual misconduct allegations (which ended when he resigned from Congress for this nomination).

Then there’s former representative Tulsi Gabbard, of Hawaii, for Director of National Intelligence, which shocked Congress and members of the intelligence community, with one official describing the choice as a “left turn and off the bridge.” She has no formal intelligence experience and is known to be sympathetic to both Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.

Other picks include Senator Marco Rubio of Florida for Secretary of State, Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, for Secretary of Defense, and Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, for Secretary of Homeland Security. (You can track them all here.)

What they all have in common is a personal bond with Trump, and most lack credible experience for the post for which they are nominated.

What are recess appointments and how will they help Trump?

While the President-elect has the executive power to make appointments for his new government, they have to be approved by Congress in a system of checks and balances.

So, what are recess appointments?

The Recess Appointment Clause to the Constitution “authorizes the President to make temporary appointments when the Senate is not in session,” during a recess, or break, and was created by the framers of the Constitution at a time when cross-country travel by horse prevented senators from quickly convening in person.

Recess appointments have become increasingly controversial in the past few decades, as presidents have tried to use the clause for political reasons, and not how the framers intended.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously 9-0 that President Barack Obama overstepped his constitutional powers when he made recess appointments during a three-day break. The ruling set a judicial precedent favoring the Senate’s ability to stop such appointments going forward.

Currently, when both the House of Representatives and Senate are on break, Congress enters “pro forma” sessions as way to stop the president from bypassing confirmation votes. Pro forma sessions prohibit either chamber of Congress from adjourning for more than three consecutive calendar days without the consent of the other chamber.

This is not the first time Trump has tried to push through recess appointments. He actually threatened to adjourn Congress in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, but never went through with it.