The president can appoint the director of the IRS and the Attorney General, and both officials can act within their statutory authority to reach an agreement. Even if the arrangement appears improper, it may not be fundamentally illegal absent a sufficiently broad definition of conspiracy. Stopping the arrangement through courts is difficult because standing and justiciability issues arise. Congress might attempt an Appropriations Clause challenge by arguing that funds were not appropriated for the specific purpose, but whether either house can maintain such a suit remains disputed. A prior D.C. Circuit decision allowing a House challenge was later vacated as moot. The Supreme Court has not resolved the issue. Legislation is presented as the easier legal remedy to block funding and related actions.
"Could Congress sue on the ground that it never appropriated funds for this purpose? The question, somewhat surprisingly, remains disputed at this late date. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held in 2020 that the House of Representatives could raise an Appropriations Clause challenge to the first Trump administration transfer of funds to build a wall along the southern border in the absence of specific congressional appropriations for that purpose. But the case became moot when Trump lost the election and the Biden administration decided not to continue building the wall, and the D.C. Circuit opinion was vacated as a result."
"Of course, it is extraordinarily unlikely that this House or Senate would file suit. But one or both houses may be under Democratic control come January, and might choose to pursue litigation. But the easier remedy, legally speaking, is legislation. Congress could pass legislation at any moment to block the fund-and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer"
"The way I saw it, the president appointed both the director of the IRS and the Attorney General, which he has a perfect right to do. They both acted within the powers of their offices and came up with this agreement. Now this whole arrangement smells like week-old mackerel in the noonday sun but, unless you stretch the definition of "conspiracy" all the way to Alpha Centauri, there is nothing fundamentally illegal about it."
#congressional-oversight #appropriations-clause #executive-appointments #federal-courts #legislation
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