THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET

ESTABLISHMENT:Initially the framers of the constitution did not include the provisions for Cabinet in the Constitution. It expected the Senate to act as a body of advisors of the President. But because of the Senate’s powers to disapprove treaties and appointments made by President, it was difficult for President to continue such relationship with it. This problem was quickly recognized by the 1st President of the United States; George Washington. Hence he began to consider the advice of his principle officers in matter of administration. The Presidents meetings with these advisors are what came to be known as “The Cabinet.” The Congress used this term more and more in congressional debates and by 1793, President George Washington had pursued Congress to recognize the Departments of Foreign Affairs (now called State Department), department of treasury and department of War. In due time congress fully recognized the President’s need to have cabinet and it included the Articles regarding the Cabinet System in the constitution.CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL STATUS:Article-II of the constitution provides that the President can require “the opinion, in writing, of the principle officer in each of the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.” The 25th Amendment provides that the Vice-President and a majority of the principle officers of the departments can transmit a notice that the President is unfit for office.

Even though the Cabinet system is as old as the constitution, yet its nature and composition remains informal. Hence there is nothing definite about its relations with the President. The Cabinet consists of Principle advisors to the President. President holds meeting with them mostly to discuss important administrative matters. The Principle advisors are known as secretaries and President appoints them to different departments. The cabinet in the US is found under the will of President and functions entirely on Presidential initiative.

The members of the Cabinet hold two kinds of responsibilities. They administer the departments of federal government and advice President on matters relating to federal administration. All members of the Cabinet are handpicked by the President himself, but are subjected to the Senate’s approval. It is very rarely that Senate rejects President’s nominations.SIZE:There is no definite size of the President’s cabinet. President may include as many persons to it as he desires. During George Washington’s Presidency there were only four heads of departments but as the executive powers of President increased, the number of principle members also increased and thus the number of persons in Cabinet also increased. The Vice-President is also a member of the Cabinet and sits in its meetings regularly.FORMATION:As said before, the nature of and composition of the Cabinet remains informal. The President may form the Cabinet in whatever method he likes and nominate whatever people he likes. However; it is become a trend to distribute seats on geographical basis. Members are chosen from Eastern, Western and Southern regions of the country. In modern era the Presidents prefer

to choose people from all walks of life e.g.; the recent trend is to include the businessmen, even though he may not have any political background or knowledge. But he may be useful on finance and business related matters. Many times the President nominates their personal friends; President Roosevelt included his friend W.H. Woodin, while President Kennedy inducted his own brother Robert Kennedy as Attorney General. On many times the cabinet members have been the past governors of the federating States, ex-senators, representatives and other political office holders.

Only sensible step taken in formation of the cabinet is that appointments are made on the ground of the special knowledge and experience or administrative ability of the nominee. For example; Lawyers are usually nominated for the seat of Attorney General. In order to ensure that the nominations are based on above elements, the constitution allows the Senate to either approve or disapprove of President’s choice.

Unlike in parliamentary system, the American President’s cabinet is rarely shuffled/

CABINET MEMBER SELECTION PROCESS:At the moment there are 15 departments for which the President makes choice for his Secretaries. As discussed before; the President makes his choice of nominee, while the Senate approves (or disapproves) by a simple majority. The selected secretary cannot hold office in legislative or judicial branch during his membership of the cabinet.

In addition, the President or Congress can de-select a member and fire or impeach him. The cabinet member also has right to resign from the office or withdraw his nomination or refuse to take office. In such case President will have to make a fresh appointment.

CABINET MEETINGS:Unlike the Congress, the Cabinet is not obliged to formal and regular meetings. The American cabinet is just an advisory body. President may either have some use or no use of it at all. Hence it is President’s choice to whether hold meeting with the cabinet or not. In recent years, the cabinet is usually summoned once a week and during emergencies they meet for frequently. The meetings are usually informal, there are no rules or regulations on the discussion and debate and no official records are kept, except for the rough paper that President may use to write down some points. The advices in the meetings may be accepted or rejected by the President and no voting is required.

All and all, the Cabinet is what the President wants it to be. It is the least successful federal institution and it is unlikely that the President is to make it outstanding. They simply are not a government, but just a voice of advice in it.