Who actually appoints people to federal positions?

[SpicyMcVoodoo]

Technically the President is supposed to appoint people to federal judge positions, agency positions, even US Marshal directors, etc.

Who actually appoints these people? As a practical matter, the President himself is not doing it. I'm curious about what goes on behind the scenes to get these people in their positions. Whom does the President delegate the job to?

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcVoodoo

Technically the President is supposed to appoint people to federal judge positions, agency positions, even US Marshal directors, etc.

Who actually appoints these people? As a practical matter, the President himself is not doing it. I'm curious about what goes on behind the scenes to get these people in their positions. Whom does the President delegate the job to?

He just runs down the list of people who donated to his campaign.

[DosEquis]

Mary Peters, the possible new transportation secretary, was picked by him and then they get confirmed by the senate. Is that the kind of federal employee you are referring to?

She used to work out of my employers pheonix office until she was nominated.

[SpicyMcVoodoo]

Originally Posted by DosEquis

Mary Peters, the possible new transportation secretary, was picked by him and then they get confirmed by the senate. Is that the kind of federal employee you are referring to?

She used to work out of my employers pheonix office until she was nominated.

Yeah, like her. I mean there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of positions to appoint people to. I doubt the president sits there and thinks of the perfect person for the job for each one. He must delegate the job of appointing to someone else.

[Publius]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcVoodoo

Yeah, like her. I mean there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of positions to appoint people to. I doubt the president sits there and thinks of the perfect person for the job for each one. He must delegate the job of appointing to someone else.

He signs off on the appointments, but yea I'm fairly sure he has a research team for the vast majority of Federal appointments that make a recommendation and he just rubber-stamps it.

But I'm sure for the top level appointments like cabinet, Supreme Court, etc. he makes the choices himself.

[kinggovernor]

The president doesn't personally select lower level appointees usually the agency head makes the final call, but rest assured they will follow the policies that the President wants in place. The potential appointee will meet with many members of the department and finally will meet with the agency head and get approved. From there the President signs off on it, and then the Senate approves