Nomination

Under Article II, Section 2, the President nominates federal judges, cabinet secretaries, ambassadors, and other senior officials, but the appointment isn’t complete until the Senate gives its “advice and consent” — in practice, a majority vote to confirm. Nominations typically go first to the relevant Senate committee (Judiciary for judges, the appropriate authorizing committee for executive-branch nominees), which holds hearings and votes on whether to send the nomination to the full floor.

Nothing in the Constitution requires the Senate to act on a nomination at all, and that gap has mattered enormously in practice. In March 2016, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill a Supreme Court vacancy; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to hold any hearing or floor vote, arguing the seat should be filled after that year’s presidential election, and the nomination simply expired at the end of the Congress. The seat was instead filled in 2017 by Neil Gorsuch, nominated by President Trump. Gorsuch’s confirmation also marked a lasting change to nomination rules: Senate Republicans invoked the “nuclear option” to lower the votes needed to end debate on Supreme Court nominations from 60 to a simple majority, extending a similar rule change Senate Democrats had made for lower-court and executive-branch nominees in 2013.

Common misconception: people often assume a presidential nomination and a Senate confirmation vote are two steps of the same guaranteed process, like a bill automatically getting a vote once introduced. In reality the Senate has complete discretion over whether and when to act, and a nomination that never receives a hearing or a vote simply dies without any recorded rejection — which is exactly what happened to Merrick Garland’s nomination.