We don't need no steenkeen confirmation

The Trump administration is pushing the limits of an obscure federal law that restricts nominees from serving in federal positions before they’re approved by the Senate.

A POLITICO review has identified four officials at three different agencies [Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department and the White House Office of Management and Budget] doing substantially similar work to the position for which they have been nominated – despite not yet getting a green-light from the Senate.

[...]

A White House official said the administration is following federal guidelines that let it name nominees to separate "advisory or consultative" roles as they await confirmation for a position. The administration is "confident that all of the president's acting designations were made in accordance with the Vacancies Reform Act," the official said.

[...]

Passed by Congress in 1998, the Vacancies Act was written in response to an effort by then-President Bill Clinton to install an official at the Justice Department in an acting capacity even after he was rejected by the Senate.

[...]

Asked for comment, EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said, “This is not unique to our administration, but something that is a common practice.”

  Politico

So who cares if it's illegal?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.