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Article: Confirmation by the Senate
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CONFIRMATION BY THE SENATE
CONFIRMATION BY THE SENATE,
the constitutional requirement that appointments by the president be made "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate" (Article II, Section 2). Although Congress may by statute waive this requirement in the case of low-level appointments, by 1975 there were 319 office titles the holders of which required confirmation by the Senate. Confirmation by the Senate is by majority vote, and in some cases it is generally given as a matter of course. During the late twentieth century, however, Senate confirmations became the arena for bitter partisan battles, particularly in regard to appointments to the Supreme Court and to cabinet or ...