Whether that will be the case is being tested now with the confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet appointees.  

The Senate confirmation process is a mechanism built in by the Constitution to provide a check on the president’s power. During this new congressional session, there has been intense pressure from the executive branch to “rubber stamp” Cabinet appointees despite their lack of qualifications and obvious conflicts of interest. Through it all, Senate Republicans have shown a willingness to surrender their crucial role in ensuring the nominees’ fitness for office. 

In the past, the United States has enjoyed stability because its system of checks and balances holds the different parts of government accountable to each other. By design, when one pulls out of line, the “better angels” in the other branches are supposed to use the means afforded them to ensure that the government serves the people and holds true to the Constitution. 

If this is a stability we are to enjoy in the future, then the time to check the executive branch is now. Senators need to signal that America must have better than the conspiracy-peddling yes-men and -women Trump has nominated. Curtis sent Hegseth through without a peep. Now RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard are up for a senate vote; Curtis’s vote, but also his leadership, could stop both of these unqualified and compromised candidates from taking office. We aren’t going to get a second shot at this.

I am particularly concerned that Kennedy might be appointed to a position of such gravity and responsibility as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The work of his life has been to erode trust in health measures that protect our youngest and our most vulnerable — and to make money doing it. We use proven tools like vaccines to give everyone a chance to live and thrive, and we have a shared responsibility to safeguard life through public health measures. When Senator Cassidy set aside his obvious qualms to vote for Kennedy in committee, he justified it by saying he received promises from Kennedy of “an unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship” with the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and that Kennedy wouldn’t make any changes in vaccine policy without giving advance notice to Congress. But the idea that any of Trump’s current nominees will submit to accountability measures seems naive. This administration’s very existence is premised on flouting accountability. And for Kennedy, a lifetime of anti-vaccine messaging will not just disappear because he agreed to toe the line. Those who believe his conspiracy theories will only see that “their guy” is on top.

Instead of ineffectually babysitting Cabinet members, let’s try for better ones. There are any number of people who could fill these appointments with judgment, experience and a true sense of public service, and it may still be possible to get them. I urge Curtis and every other senator on Capitol Hill to vote against Kennedy’s and Gabbard’s confirmations. Show the executive branch that Congress will pursue the best for human life and health and global and national security – and that it will deliver on its accountability to the American people.

Melissa Smith moved to Utah in 2023. She is an archivist and scholar whose published work focuses on information justice.