President Donald Trump must be given some discretion to fill vacancies, including with the appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, but there could be some constitutional questions raised from the actions Whitaker takes, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday.
"Justice Thurgood Marshall, when he was appointed for the court of appeals served as an interim judge for months before his appointment was confirmed," Dershowitz told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "He had not been confirmed and he was serving as a judge."
There have been interim appointments from the nation's founding, he added, but if Whitaker's appointment goes on for a long period, that could post issues.
"I agree if the interim appointment goes on for a long period of time or if major irreversible decisions get made by a non-confirmed interim appointee, that can raise some constitutional questions," Dershowitz said.
He noted that he was "in the school of Harvard" for 50 years, and has never heard anyone complain about interim appointments like they are with Whitaker.
"It is such a partisan attack," Dershowitz said. "If this were a Democrat president who made an interim appointment we wouldn't hear these senators complaining. It is completely partisan."
He said he does agree that if Whitaker is in office for a long period of time "they have point," but he suspects Trump wants to make a permanent appointment as soon as possible, and it will be up to the Senate to confirm that person.
"If the Senate takes a long, long time confirming as they have sometimes, then the interim appointment will last longer," said Dershowitz. "That's in the nature of things. And the constitution certainly doesn't preclude a president from making a short-term temporary interim appointment."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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