Recess Appointments

What IF John Bolton Gets a Recess Appointment to U.N. Ambassadorship?
The Washington Note
June 02, 2005
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000695.html


Constitution of the United States
Adopted by convention of States, September 17, 1787;
Ratification completed, June 21, 17881
Article II.
Section. 2.
Clause 3: The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Now, I may be reading this wrong, but this says that for a president to be able to make a recess appointment, the vacancy must occur during the recess. It doesn’t say the president can appoint people that are waiting for confirmation just because the Senate goes on recess. The vacancy in the UN post has already been addressed by the president bush. He nominated john bolton. The Senate has already started into the confirmation process. If the bush appoints bolton during the recess, I’ll go so far as to say that he violates his oath of office to protect the constitution, not go against its plain language here. The bushistas are all ranting and raving against what they call ‘activist judges’, so why are they not calling on bush to stop these recess appointments (remember also Pryor, or Pickering)?

Apparently, if they don’t like the result, they say it’s wrong. If they like the result, well then, that’s another story. Now then. Before anyone gets all huffy about other presidents using the appointment power in the same manner, read Clause 3 again, and decide for yourself how I feel about that.

Or this http://guerrillacampaign.blogspot.com/2005/04/advice-and-consent.html