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AFP
WASHINGTON
THE US Justice Department insisted on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general was legal, despite Whitaker not having been confirmed by the Senate.
Faced with questions from constitutional scholars and a court challenge by the state of Maryland, the department issued a 20-page opinion which argued that conflicting laws gave the president room to appoint an unconfirmed official to the top Justice position.
They also argued that previous presidents made similar interim appointments of cabinet-level officials who had not gone through the Senate confirmation process.
"Mr Whitaker's designation is no more constitutionally problematic than countless similar presidential orders dating back over 200 years," said the opinion by the department's Office of Legal Counsel.
"Although an attorney general is a principal officer requiring Senate confirmation, someone who temporarily performs his duties is not," it said.
Trump named Whitaker to the job on November 7 after firing attorney general Jeff Sessions after 18 months of acrimony related to the ongoing Russia collusion investigation that threatens Trump.
Whitaker had been Sessions' chief of staff and liaison to Trump for just over one year.
