Acting official
Definition
An acting official is someone temporarily performing the duties of a vacant Senate-confirmed position without having been confirmed themselves. Under the Vacancies Act, the position's existing top deputy, called the "first assistant," automatically becomes acting, unless the president designates another qualifying official instead.
Why it matters
Acting officials can run major agencies for months or years, making binding decisions and issuing rules, without ever facing a Senate confirmation hearing where their record and qualifications would be publicly examined. Presidents facing a hostile or slow-moving Senate sometimes rely on a string of acting officials specifically to install their preferred leadership without confirmation.
Seen in the wild
Multiple senior immigration enforcement positions, including at ICE and USCIS, were run by a rotating series of acting officials rather than Senate-confirmed appointees for extended periods during the Trump administration, with some appointments later struck down in court as violating the Vacancies Act's first-assistant rule.1