In the nine days since his victory in the 2024 United States presidential election, President-elect Donald Trump made appointments to some key positions in his administration.

With President-elect Trump’s Republican Party holding majority control in the Senate, House and Supreme Court, many are questioning whether or not the appointments will face any rejection.

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KPRC 2’s Bill Spencer and Lisa Hernandez spoke with David Froomkin, a law professor at the University of Houston.

Lisa Hernandez, KPRC 2: President-elect Trump has announced his nominees. I just heard that RFK Jr., in fact, has been tapped to run Health and Human Services. Matt Gaetz has been nominated for Attorney General.

We know he was involved in a sex-trafficking investigation within Donald Trump’s DOJ and has come under House Ethics Committee scrutiny for alleged sexual misconduct. We should note that he denied all claims. What we’re hearing about the possibility of recess appointments that would bypass Senate hearings and a confirmation vote – can that happen? And do you think the new majority leader will allow that?

David Froomkin, University of Houston: Usually, of course, all Cabinet appointments require Senate confirmation. Under the Constitution, the president can make recess appointments without Senate confirmation only when the Senate is, in fact, in recess. The Supreme Court has made it absolutely clear that the Senate has the power to decide when it is in recess. So the question is whether the Senate will accept Trump’s request, which would be truly shocking — essentially, for the Senate to preemptively abdicate its most important constitutional function of confirming Cabinet appointments. But we will have to see.

I think the more important question to ask is why might Trump want to avoid the confirmation process? I think there are essentially three possible reasons. First, the nominees might be too extreme or too disappointing to be confirmed by the Senate; second, they might want to avoid public scrutiny, especially if a candidate has skeletons in the closet; or three, Trump has said he wants to become a “dictator” and simply loathes the idea of ​​checks on his power.

Bill Spencer, KPRC 2: Donald Trump also tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new department: the Department of Government Efficiency, which is meant to reduce government waste. Can the president unilaterally create a new department like this?

David Froomkin, University of Houston: Absolutely not. Under the Constitution, the president does not have the unilateral power to create an executive department. Departments can only be created by law, that is, by Congress. The president can only unilaterally create an office within the White House, which would only have an advisory function. So if Trump tried to give the new office any power beyond a strictly advisory role, he would be breaking the law and the Constitution.

Bill Spencer, KPRC 2: With Musk’s existing government contracts, would Elon Musk’s role be a conflict of interest if appointed to the administration?

David Froomkin, University of Houston: If the office is, in fact, a purely advisory role, then I think the conflict doesn’t really matter—everyone is entitled to their opinion. On the other hand, if the process is designed to give power in a way that bypasses Senate confirmation and disclosures, that would be very troubling.

Lisa Hernandez, KPRC 2: Trump has promised mass deportations. Stephen Miller, his top immigration adviser, said that in 2025 we may even see denaturalization for those who have been naturalized. Is this even a legally valid argument?

David Froomkin, University of Houston: I don’t think there is any legal basis for that. First, the Constitution guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States. So to the extent that we are instead talking about people who have been naturalized, then we are dealing with federal immigration law, which allows denaturalization only in very rare circumstances. It is also important to note that mass denaturalization would be a clear violation of international human rights law.

But I think that’s not even the extent of the problem that we’re looking at. Trump has said he plans to enlist the military in the process of arresting and deporting immigrants to the United States. But the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law, prohibits members of the military from participating in domestic law enforcement activities. So I fear we are entering a new era where government officials will increasingly disregard the law.

Watch the full interview in the video above.