He's now installed Big Time Asshole (that's an Administration technical term) John Bolton at the UN as our nation's - that is, your - Ambassador to the world. Reuters story.
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If you have to ask, you can't afford it.
2 comments:
I wonder about the recess appointment. If you read the part of the constitution which grants the power, it reads fairly clearly that the president can appoint without advise and consent if the vacancy should "occur" while the Senate is in recess.
To me, this means the appointment can take place only if the position was occupied when the recess began, and then became vacated before the Senate reconvenes.
That doesn't apply here, and it doesn't apply to many other appointments.
So, a real question is: what was said at the constitutional convention on this power? Was it meant to apply to all vacancies when the Senate was in recess? Or was it meant -- as it seems to read -- to be a power to fill a critical seat which could not be filled in a timely manner due to Senate recess.
This is a loser of a power.
Yes, it would be interesting (to say the least) to see what the "strict constructionists" on our Supreme Court would have to say on the subject, if it ever came to that. It seems to me that your interpretation is the only reasonable one... of course, the President can always force a "new" vacancy during a Congressional recess by asking for the resignation of the current occupant.
I guess the current situation represents a sort of detente where the President "reserves" the recess appointment card for "rare and unusual" situations and the Senate, in turn, chooses to overlook its unconstitutionality.
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