Motion asks for SCOTUS to replace Whitaker with Rosenstein

According to Austin Koltonowski  of Jurist, lawyer Tom Goldstein has asked the US Supreme Court to appoint Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as the acting Attorney General, replacing Matthew Whitaker.

Goldstein claims that Whitaker was illegally installed as the temporary successor of former attorney general Jeff Sessions, and that Rosenstein is the legal and constitutional successor to Sessions. The motion argues that as the Senate-confirmed Deputy Attorney General, Rosenstein automatically succeeded to the role of Acting Attorney General under 28 USC § 508(a) and the Appointments Clause in Article II of the Constitution.

The motion calls for the court to resolve this dispute immediately. The Attorney General has a number of responsibilities, including appointing immigration judges, determining whether to enforce federal statutes and overseeing the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

If the court does not resolve this dispute immediately, then decides later that Whitaker’s appointment was always invalid, then unwinding all of Whitaker’s orders would be “a fraught and disruptive exercise,” Goldstein argues

There is no deadline for action by the judges.

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