When Senator Tommy Tuberville arrived on Capitol Hill nearly four years ago, the first votes were against the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election. Two months later, the Alabama Republican said the three branches of the federal government—the House, the Senate and the White House were – he apparently forgot about the judiciary – and talked about government-mandated religious classes in defiance of the First Amendment and U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
He is not a constitutional scholar.
Is there any chance the football coach turned politician has several years of experience on Capitol Hill? Apparently not. The New Republic noted:
Tuberville told CNN reporters on Wednesday that the Senate did not need to complete the vetting process for Cabinet confirmations because Trump has already done so well. …Tuberville even went so far as to suggest that Democrats merely doing their research were actually attacking nominees.
To be fair, there has been a lot of bizarre rhetoric from Republican lawmakers over the past month about Donald Trump, his personnel announcements and the responsibilities of Congress. Tuberville himself has made staggering comments in recent weeks, suggesting that President-elect and Vice President J.D. Vance will soon “run the Senate” — that’s not how separation of powers works in the United States — and claiming that it’s not up to the senators is to “determine” whether Trump’s Cabinet nominees have merit.
But he keeps making things worse.
In this latest case, the Alabaman began by telling CNN’s Manu Raju that he disapproved of Republican senators who believe they are “a better fatter and people voter than Donald Trump.” This was an odd thing to say, since Trump has already essentially admitted that, at least in some cases, he and his team don’t bother vetting key personnel at all.
After Raju reminded Tuberville of the Constitution’s powers of advice and consent — “It’s your job,” the reporter said plainly — the far-right senator responded, “Advice and consent, but that’s more the Democrats.”
As part of the same exchange, the senator went on to say that it is members of the new Democratic minority who should be “doing all the background work.”
Tuberville pointed to one of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks, concluding: “I just can’t believe we even have people on our side saying, ‘Well, I gotta look at this, I gotta look at that.’ ”
When I say that Alabama’s senior senator is confused about the basics of his own constitutional responsibilities, I’m being quite literal. There are apparently fundamental aspects of Tuberville’s work in which he simply has no interest.
Article II, Section II of the Constitution gives presidents the power to appoint officials “by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.” It doesn’t say that presidents can appoint officials, at which point senators should shrug their shoulders, ignore the nominees’ qualifications, and go along with the White House’s wishes without regard to the merits of the consequences.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
