Bush bypasses Congress, appoints Pickering

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
No link yet, it's still fresh news.
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Comments

  • Reply 2 of 50
    northgatenorthgate Posts: 4,461member
    Why doesn't Bush just bypass Congress on ... everything? Who's going to stop him? Ashcroft?



    Since he's above due process, why not just declare the end of the Democratic party and install the Bush monarchy? Who's going to stop him? Every Republican I talk to these days just sorta giggles at the prospect of the '04 election anyway. So why bother?



    I say, "All hail Lord Bush!"



    [/sarcasm]
  • Reply 3 of 50
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Northgate

    Why doesn't Bush just bypass Congress on ... everything? Who's going to stop him? Ashcroft?



    Since he's above due process, why not just declare the end of the Democratic party and install the Bush monarchy? Who's going to stop him? Every Republican I talk to these days just sorta giggles at the prospect of the '04 election anyway. So why bother?



    I say, "All hail Lord Bush!"



    [/sarcasm]




    I believe Clinton was rather famous for his recess appointments from what I recall. Of course all recent presidents do use this tactic to get people past the Congress. Yet amazingly enough I never heard anyone claim Clinton or the others were tossing away democracy. (That includes Reagan and Bush Sr. btw)



    Nick
  • Reply 5 of 50
    Quote:

    Originally posted by trumptman

    I believe Clinton was rather famous for his recess appointments from what I recall. Of course all recent presidents do use this tactic to get people past the Congress. Yet amazingly enough I never heard anyone claim Clinton or the others were tossing away democracy. (That includes Reagan and Bush Sr. btw)



    Nick




    Its Bush's pick. He is an unseemly character.



    This loop hole may need to be sealed up though.
  • Reply 6 of 50
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    How were recess appointments ever constitutional?
  • Reply 7 of 50
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Originally Congress met for just a few short weeks a year, if that. The original idea was that this was NOT to be a career, but a part-time job that citizens took on to help out their country.



    So much for that idea.



    So, if Congress was not in session, having members travel hundreds of miles by horse and buggy was... cumbersome. (See, back then there was this radical idea that representatives should actually be a part of the people they were representing... shocking, ain't it?) The President had the right to appoint certain offices, but Congress retained the right to overturn that on review once they were back in session.
  • Reply 8 of 50
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    and the question is, do any of these recess appointments get overturned??



    if not, why don't presidents do it more often



    if they do, why would presidents appoint someone knowing it would tick off congress and insure that the appointment is a short one?



    g
  • Reply 9 of 50
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by thegelding

    and the question is, do any of these recess appointments get overturned??



    if not, why don't presidents do it more often



    if they do, why would presidents appoint someone knowing it would tick off congress and insure that the appointment is a short one?



    g




    In a lot of cases it makes it harder to overturn than reject the applicant *IF* they do a decent job while they have the office.



    "We don't like him, we don't think he'll do a good job" becomes harder to justify if the person has a good track record.
  • Reply 10 of 50
    northgatenorthgate Posts: 4,461member
  • Reply 11 of 50
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Why didn't the Senate just vote on him when they had the chance
  • Reply 12 of 50
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by billybobsky

    Its Bush's pick. He is an unseemly character.



    This loop hole may need to be sealed up though.




    Good luck, I doubt any party would seal it since they both use it.



    Nick
  • Reply 13 of 50
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    Why didn't the Senate just vote on him when they had the chance



    Because the Democrats filibustered.
  • Reply 14 of 50
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Without even having to do a real one.
  • Reply 15 of 50
    fellowshipfellowship Posts: 5,038member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rageous

    Because the Democrats filibustered.



    I think Scott was aware of that



    Fellows
  • Reply 16 of 50
    crusadercrusader Posts: 1,129member
    Sometimes, I think we should just throw everything out, and start back using just the constitution as the foundation. A government recompile if you will. The current system of laws is cumbersome and ridiculous.
  • Reply 17 of 50
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    Oh yeah... great Idea... it's going well in Iraq and Afghanistan... we're really good at forming "new" democracies.



    It was the only way he was going to get Pickering in. And it's only for 1 year. He can be replaced.
  • Reply 18 of 50
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    How does this work now? He has the position until Jan 2005, and then the Senate can vote to remove him? He doesn't have to be positively confirmed? Does that sidestep the fillibuster problem altogether, since 40 Senators is enough to fillibuster stop a conformation but not enough to win a vote to remove him?
  • Reply 19 of 50
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Some of you need to look into the history of recess appointments a bit more before you decry someone you don't like getting one.



    From CNN...



    Quote:

    Presidents have the power to bypass Congress and make "recess" appointments to judgeships and other positions that require Senate confirmation. The use of the power is relatively rare but hardly unprecedented.



    Two Supreme Court justices received recess appointments. President Dwight D. Eisenhower put William Brennan and Earl Warren on the high court that way. And Justice Thurgood Marshall worked his way to the Supreme Court after President John F. Kennedy used a recess appointment to place Marshall on the Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.



    Presidents have used recess appointments to bring diversity to the court system, according to the National Archives.



    Including Marshall, four of the five first African-American judges at the federal appellate level received recess appointments. And two of the three first female judges also were recess appointments.



    Nick
  • Reply 20 of 50
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    I think the diversity argument presented in that CNN article most definitely doesn't apply here! The history of recess appointments has no effect on the fact that I vehemently disagree with Charles Pickering and his recess appointment.
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