A Supreme Court prospect bowed out after it was revealed that he had smoked pot in his youth. Two candidates for attorney general were done in when it came to light that they had employed undocumented immigrants as nannies. A third cabinet nominee — a former Senate leader no less — was nixed for not paying taxes on a car and driver lent to him by an associate. Even mean tweets were enough to sink one nominee.lucky time

The legal and ethical issues surrounding some of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s selections for top administration jobs, not to mention their history of eyebrow-raising public statements, are far more profound than the kinds of revelations that have killed nominations in the Senate in the past.

What once passed as disqualifying for a presidential nominee seems downright benign in comparison to allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by his attorney general pick detailed in a secret congressional report, a sexual assault accusation followed by a paid settlement for his choice to head the Pentagon and an acknowledged former heroin addiction by the would-be health secretary.

It was not so long ago that nominees for high-level jobs and even some of the more obscure ones had to be above reproach, to the point where a relatively minor tax issue could derail them. But times are evidently changing when it comes to nominations at the dawn of the second Trump administration.

“Standards are apparently evolving,” said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee. The panel would consider the nomination of former Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, for attorney general if he is formally put forward.

Mr. Gaetz was the subject of a Justice Department investigation and a House Ethics Committee inquiry into drug use and whether he had sex with a minor, among other allegations. He and his supporters dismiss the accusations as a smear and emphasize that federal prosecutors declined to charge him, although the underlying claims against him in the case were well documented. The ethics findings remain confidential after the panel deadlocked on Wednesday on whether to release its report.

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