The President’s “Cabinet”
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Since the election ended on Tuesday, there has been a lot of talk about President-elect Obama establishing his cabinet. The term cabinet refers to the heads, or secretaries, of the fifteen executive departments of our government which form the United States Cabinet. The departments, from the executive branch of the government, are as follows: Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Homeland Security. You might recall that President Bush created the Department of Homeland Security following the events of 9/11.
Each new President has the right to appoint a person of his choosing to head each department, or to become that department’s secretary. However, each appointment must be approved by the Senate. In cases where the Senate majority (the party with the majority of its members holding Senate seats) is from the same political party as the President, as President-elect Obama will enjoy, the confirmation of the appointment by the Senate is typically unchallenged. However, when the Senate majority is from an opposing political party to the President, the appointment is often challenged and not confirmed, forcing the President to appoint someone else until that person is approved by the Senate. The terms of the department heads are not fixed, and they may be replaced by the President at any time. When a new President is elected, it is customary for cabinet members to resign, but they remain in office until successors are appointed.
There are few restrictions governing who the President can choose to head any of the departments, but according to Article One of the United States Constitution no person can hold both a position as head of a department and a seat in either house of Congress. Furthermore, if a member of either the House of Representatives or the Senate is chosen to head a department that person must resign his or her seat before accepting a Cabinet position. Likewise, any state governor must resign before accepting a Cabinet position.
Concerning the duties of the members of each department of the Cabinet, Article Two of the Constitution provides that the President can require “the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.” In other words, each secretary reports directly to the President on the affairs and current events involving his or her department. This is usually done in a “Cabinet meeting”, a meeting of all department heads called by the President, in which the members are seated according to the order of precedence, with higher ranking officers sitting closer to the center of the table. This allows the President and Vice-President to sit directly across from each other at the oval-shaped table. Then, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense are seated directly to the right and left, respectively, of the President, and the Secretary of Treasury and the Attorney General sit to right and left, respectively, of the Vice President. The seating of meeting attendees continues, alternating according to rank, with Cabinet-rank members who are not heads of departments (The Vice President excluded) sitting at the very ends, farthest away from the President and Vice-President.
There are two other important facts concerning the Cabinet. First, beginning with the Secretary of State, Cabinet members complete the presidential line of succession, following the unlikely deaths of the President, Vice-President, Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Second, upon addition of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, a provision was created allowing that the Vice President and “a majority of the principal officers” of the executive branch departments may inform the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore that, in their judgment, the President is unfit for office. If the President contests this finding, the responsibilty falls upon the Congress to settle the matter.
- Matt M.
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If I was Obama I’d let bygones be bygones and offer Sarah Palin the Ambassadorship to Africa. All of it.
Reply to Caledonian JimThat’s awesome, Jim!
Reply to Matthew UrdanJim, we’ll see if Obama really does reach across the isle and put any Republicans on his team, or if he’ll keep any Republicans in there current positions.
Thanks for stopping by our new site. I hope you’ll return any time you need a clarification on American government policies. LOL I think you have your hands full with the British government right now!
mmullins’s last blog post..The President’s “Cabinet”
Reply to mmullinsI did “look around” as you suggested because I think you have an excellent idea here. But the site itself is confusing; for instance, I thought I should be able to click on the “look around” request and be able to tell you what I thought about the idea and execution, instead of having to post irrelevantly on this thread. Okay, maybe the design is only confusing to someone who spends less than twenty hours a week reading blogs, but isn’t that person your target audience? Someone who isn’t completely up-to-speed, but knows it?
While I have your attention, two additional requests: a Q&A, even if it’s as terse as Factcheck’s, and better copy editing. The latter is a quibble, but the former would be an asset to you, letting you know what kinds of questions you should focus on in the future, as well as a service to your readers.
Good luck going forward!
Reply to epowellepowell - Excellent ideas! We need this kind of feedback to know what our readers like. Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. I’ll check into your suggestions.
Reply to mmullinsHow about a post on executive orders, now that they are in the news?
Reply to ClarkGood suggestions from epowell and Clark. I think we should add a contact form as well for our readers to be able to submit queries or suggestions.
Reply to BOBOClark, thanks so much for the suggestion. That sounds like a good post. Thanks for stopping by and do come back.
Bob, I agree. I like your idea of a contact form.
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Reply to mmullinsHi Matt M.
This is an awesome article. It’s loaded with information that I’m very interested in knowing. Fifteen Cabinets in all! I counted them. It’s interesting to know that the Speaker of the House can succedd the presidency should something happens to the president and the VP. It’s also interesting to know the sitting arrangements of the different heads of the President’s Cabinets.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
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Reply to TashabudTasha, thank you so much for your comments. Learning the inner workings of government can be very interesting, indeed. But the best thing about it is that it empowers us all to be able to make better decisions when voting for those who we choose to represent us in public office. I hope you continue to return to our site to learn more. We are very interested in your opinions. Thank you!
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