Former Social Security OGC Attorney's Nomination To MSPB In Trouble

     From Government Executive:

The [Merit Systems Protection Board, MSPB] that determines federal employees’ challenges to adverse actions will likely to continue to be rendered impotent into next year, as the Senate appears unlikely to approve a slate of nominees to the panel before the legislative session ends.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee scheduled a vote on Wednesday for three individuals President Trump nominated to sit on the Merit Systems Protection Board, but ultimately the committee failed to advance the nominations. The senators present were deadlocked on the nomination of Andrew Maunz, the most controversial of the nominees, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting no by proxy. ...

Trump nominated Maunz to MSPB after he served as an attorney in the Social Security Administration’s general counsel office. His nomination troubled Democrats and some board observers, in part because his office was once found by a federal court to be “dysfunctional and under the management of supervisors whose management skills and performance were deficient in many respects, including unfavorable treatment of older women working in the office, compared with younger women and male attorneys." Maunz, representing SSA’s general counsel office in the case, launched a “vigorous attack” on an employee seeking redress for violations of the Civil Rights Act, according to the judge. The court ultimately ruled in the employee’s favor. ...

     There's no way to discipline Administrative Law Judges without a functioning MSPB.

Update: Since I first posted this, Government Executive has somewhat altered the article I quoted. See the link for the revised article.