Critical Analysis

1. According to the data from the table above what percent of Joe Biden’s cabinet left office during the first year of the Biden Administration?

2. How does Biden’s year-one cabinet turnover compare to that of the previous six presidents?

3. Based on the data from the table above, what is likely to happen to turnover in the Biden cabinet over the next few years?

4. Why do you think cabinet turnover in the first year of recent presidential administrations is generally low?

5. What is one consequence of so little turnover at the top of Biden’s organization?

6. The term “Cabinet” is never mentioned in the Constitution itself. James Madison was the first President to use the term, basing it on the British Privy Council. The Cabinet has its constitutional basis in Article 2, Section 2, which states that the President “may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices…” Later, it mentions these heads as some of the people that must be confirmed by the Senate. According to the White House, The Cabinet is an advisory body made up of the heads of the 15 executive departments. Appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the members of the Cabinet are often the President’s closest confidants. In addition to running major federal agencies, they play an important role in the Presidential line of succession — after the Vice President, Speaker of the House, and Senate President pro tempore, the line of succession continues with the Cabinet offices in the order in which the departments were created. All the members of the Cabinet take the title Secretary, excepting the head of the Justice Department, who is styled Attorney General. In you own words, what exactly is the Cabinet?

7. The First Congress established four departments: State, War, Treasury and Post Office (which would later lose its Cabinet status). Washington later signed the Judiciary Act, which created the position of Attorney General around which a Justice Department would grow. Through the years, different executive departments have been added, and in some cases subtracted, to serve the country’s evolving needs. The most recent addition is Homeland Security, established in 2002 in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks. President Joe Biden’s Cabinet includes Vice President Kamala Harris and the heads of the 15 executive departments — the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, and the Attorney General. Additionally, the Cabinet includes the White House Chief of Staff, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, the Director of National Intelligence, and the US Trade Representative, as well as the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, Council of Economic Advisers, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Small Business Administration. Could the next president change the size and membership of the Cabinet?

8. There are not many requirements to be a Cabinet member. One cannot be a member of Congress, as no one is allowed to serve in the executive and legislative branches at the same time. There are also no age or birthplace requirements. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright were both born outside of the United States, as was Hamilton. While there was no problem with these individuals serving in their posts, they were not allowed to be a part of the presidential line of succession. Similarly, anyone under the age of 35 is also removed from the line of succession. The only true obstacles, then, are an extensive FBI background check and a successful Senate confirmation. While the term “Senate confirmation” sounds daunting—especially when you consider the controversial and high-profile nature of modern Supreme Court nominations–Cabinet nominations are, for the most part, quite tame. The process is often a formality, as Congress tends to defer to the President in selecting the Cabinet he needs to do the work of the executive branch. Only nine Cabinet nominees have ever been rejected by the Senate. If a nominee is expected to have trouble, he or she typically takes his or her name out of the running. Explain how the Cabinet confirmation process illustrates the concept of checks and balances.

9. In Federalist No. 70, Alexander Freaking Hamilton writes about the executive freaking branch. Hamilton writes that, “A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government.” Considering Hamilton’s Federalist No. 70, and the low level of turnover in the Biden Executive Office of the President and Cabinet. Make a claim about whether Hamilton would consider the Biden administration enfeebled.

10. Which of the members of the Biden Cabinet do you think is most likely to leave in year two (also, which is the hottest cabinet member)?

Learning Extension

Read about turnover in the first year of the Biden Administration.

Action Extension

Tweet Dr. Katie Dunn Tenpas, the author of the study of administrative turnover, and ask her to explain the low level of turnover in the Biden administration.

Visual Extension*