"Frank is illegitimate"

I wrote a while back about the slithery dude who's running the IRS these days. Frank Bisignano is the Trump lieutenant who's in charge of the agency at the moment. But rather than put him up to be confirmed as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Trumpsters simply named him the IRS "chief executive officer" and flipped Congress the bird.

Now a federal judge in D.C. is being asked to rule that Bisgnano can't serve as CEO, because that's essentially serving as Commissioner, and there can't be a Commissioner without the consent of the Senate. The lawsuit is being brought by the Treasury employees' union, which is challenging the agency's cutbacks of paid leave for its workers.

The union, in its complaint, said Bisignano's de facto leadership of the IRS violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has interpreted this clause as requiring “principal” officers to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. 

NTEU wrote that Bisignano “is carrying out the functions of the IRS Commissioner, which is a principal officer, but the President did not nominate him to that position and the Senate did not confirm him to it.” 

“Mr. Bisignano has therefore lacked authority for his official actions, including issuing the Directive,” the union told the court....

The IRS currently lacks a permanent or acting IRS commissioner or deputy commissioner. 

Frank's IRS gig is perfectly Trump: defying the rule of law and trashing an institution that's crucial to the running of the country. Unlike the six uptight figures who do Dear Leader's bidding on the Supreme Court, federal judges in lower courts have gotten tired of the shenanigans and are striking them down. It will be interesting to see what they do with Frank's case.