Some Senate Democrats are boycotting confirmation hearings for Cabinet positions, holding up votes.

What’s going on?

In response to the abrupt firing of acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who refused to uphold Trump’s Muslim ban, Senate Democrats are boycotting confirmation hearings for Treasury and Health and Human Services departments. This is holding up confirmation votes, as well.

Why is it important?

One of the responsibilities of Senators is to confirm Presidential appointments to Cabinet departments, judgeships, and other government positions. Senators thus have a fair amount of power when it comes to deciding the composition of the executive branch. It is by no means absolute control, but the confirmation process is designed to allow Senators to keep unqualified or dangerous nominees away from executive agencies.

Many of Trump’s nominees are indeed dangerous, and in fact most of them are actively hostile to the missions of the departments to which they have been appointed. Seemingly motivated by the firing of Sally Yates, Senate Democrats appear to have found the wherewithal to band together and do what they can to hold up or thwart Trump’s Cabinet picks.

It looks likely that Democrats may try to block other appointments, too, such as Attorney General pick Jeff Sessions.

Democrats absolutely need to avoid rubber-stamping Trump’s agenda, and while they may be unable to stop any of his appointments (they are outnumbered in the Senate), drawing attention to his behavior and publicly criticizing his nominees is essential to laying the groundwork for his downfall, be it of an electoral or legal nature.

What can I do?

If you have any Democratic Senators, contact them and let them know you support their efforts to delay or block Trump’s nominees. Politicians only know what their constituents want when such constituents actually reach out to them.

If you instead have Republican Senators (or at least one Republican Senator), you could also take a shot in the dark and encourage them to block Trump’s picks. Realistically, this is unlikely to have any effect–Republicans are virtually in lockstep on Trump’s nominees thus far.

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