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Polarization, Excepted Appointments, and the Administrative Presidency
Author(s) -
Moore Emily H.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
presidential studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1741-5705
pISSN - 0360-4918
DOI - 10.1111/psq.12417
Subject(s) - presidency , staffing , political science , public administration , ideology , schedule , polarization (electrochemistry) , public relations , law , management , politics , economics , chemistry
The rise of congressional polarization has led presidents to seek alternative ways to pursue their agendas through staffing. I argue presidents use excepted appointments, which are excepted both from advice and consent and competitive hiring processes, when ideological conflict within the Senate is high. I also argue that Schedule C appointments specifically are concentrated in agencies ideologically similar to the president due to their advisory nature. I find preliminary support for these hypotheses using Office of Personnel Management data on Schedule C appointees from 1998 to 2013. In sum, this study shows that excepted appointments are an important yet understudied tool in the president's administrative toolbox.