Oh, But That’s Different
It’s typical in this country when a new administration takes over…be it at the state or federal level…for those appointed largely for political purposes to offer to resign to give the new folks the chance to appoint their own people. Elections have consequences, after all.
On March 10, 2017, then-attorney general Jeff Sessions asked the remaining U.S. Attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama Administration to resign…again, pretty standard regardless of which party is new to the White House. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York loudly and publicly refused, so he was fired the next day. The cry from the left was loud, claiming it was another example of the new president turning the White House into a dictatorship.
On July 9, 2021, President Biden fired the head of the Social Security Administration, someone who had been appointed by President Trump. Andrew Saul had been asked to resign because he had alienated various Democrat groups. He refused, so he was fired.
Here’s the difference between the two situations, however. The head of the Social Security Administration is appointed for six-year terms, clearly not tied to the four-year term of a president. Saul was head of an independent agency whose leadership typically does not change with a presidential administration change; in fact, Saul’s term was not set to expire until January 2025…when potentially yet another president would be in office.
Let’s go further…under the current Social Security Act, which was passed when President Biden was a U.S. Senator, a president can only fire the commissioner for cause.
So while the publicity-seeking Democrat U.S. Attorney’s firing turned him into a star of the left, Biden illegally firing a Trump appointee on a Friday drew hardly any attention, and very little criticism.
The hypocrisy is not surprising, but it still needs to be noted.
