Friday, July 29, 2005
President Bush plans to take advantage of the congressional summer vacation by installing John Bolton - his controversial choice to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - in the job, according to a report in the Associated Press.
A recess appointment of Bolton. Granted, it's not a lifetime appointment like an appointment to the courts, but the Constitution makes no differentiation - besides, I hope no one wishes to argue that the vetting of our Ambassador to the United Nations should be thorough as thorough can be : most Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate are not ready to consent to the appointment.
The Constitution's obvious intention is not to allow the president a freebie appointment every now and then,
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
The Whitehouse's argument for the appointment is,
We need our permanent representative in place at the United States [sic] at this critical time. There is an effort underway to move forward on comprehensive reform. We have outlined the comprehensive reforms that we want to see put in place to make sure that the United Nations is an effective multilateral organization.
We do have "our permanent representative in place" at the United Nations, Anne W. Patterson. If they mean "continuity", it seems the Whitehouse ought to call for an up or down vote.
// posted by Erik @ 7/29/2005 11:25:00 PM
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