By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Ken Cuccinelli, an immigration hardliner, is refusing to step down as deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security after a federal judge said his appointment violated federal law.
Cuccinelli insists his appointment was appropriate.
“The succession for the deputy secretary of homeland security ties back to my official position as the principal deputy at USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services], there’s not a problem with me at my current position,” Cuccinelli said on Fox and Friends Monday after initially laughing at the news. “The only issue in the case is related to being the acting director at USCIS. And this ruling is really something of an outlier. This is a methodology that has been used in the past. It’s been thought of as legal as — pretty broadly.”
A federal district court judge in Washington D.C. ruled that Cuccinelli, a 51-year-old former attorney general, failed to meet the requirements in the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to secure the job.
The judge said Cuccinelli was illegally appointed to lead a department agency, a move that the Trump administration believed made him qualify for his current job.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the judge will respond to Cuccinelli’s refusal to step down.
