The recess appointment clause of the Constitution grants the President power to appoint cabinet officials

without the consent of Congress under extraordinary circumstances. President-elect Trump has

indicated interest in triggering the clause to bypass the ordinary Senate confirmation process.

Hello, friends. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center,

and welcome to We the People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.

The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit, chartered by Congress,

to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.

President Trump's allies have articulated an expansive understanding of the recess appointment clause, and in this episode of We the People, we discuss the history and text of the clause,

examine how President Trump might invoke it, and explore the legal merits of the proposal.

Joining me to discuss this important issue are two leading constitutional scholars,

Edward Whalen of EPPC and Thomas Berry of the Cato Institute.

Edward Whalen is a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center,

and he holds the Antonin Scalia chair in

constitutional studies. He directs EPPC's program on the Constitution, the courts, and the culture,

and he writes about constitutional law and the judicial confirmation process, including the superb

newsletter confirmation tales. And his most recent book is The Essential Scalia on the Constitution,

the courts, and the rule of law.

Ed, it is wonderful to welcome you to be the people.

Thank you, Jeff.

And Thomas Berry is director of the Cato Institute's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies,

an editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court

Review. Before joining Cato, he was an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, and he clerked for

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