ARTICLE · 25 FEBRUARY 2013

Presidential Nominations

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Explore more from Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

A discussion on the most recent federal agency vacancies, nominations, and Senate confirmations.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector

Amy Walker

This is the second of a three-part series on federal agency vacancies, nominations, and Senate confirmations.

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution grants the President the power to appoint a number of positions including:

Ambassadors;
Federal judges, including Supreme Court Justices;
Cabinet members/federal department heads; and
Other specified positions within the federal government, including certain military posts, officers within cabinet and independent agencies, other positions within the Foreign Service and uniformed civilian services, U.S. attorneys, and U.S. marshals.

The President now appoints more than 300 positions within the 14 cabinet agencies and more than 100 positions in independent and other agencies (the Central Intelligence Agency, National Labor Relations Board, National Science Foundation, Securities and Exchange Commission, etc.). Each session of Congress, approximately 4,000 civilian and 65,000 military nominations are

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