"Appeals Court Questions Bush's Appointment"

[GreenPartyVoter]

ATLANTA (AP) - A federal appeals court is asking the Bush administration to defend the president's appointment of a judge to its ranks while the U.S. Senate was out of session.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, asked the Justice Department on Monday to intervene in a case contesting the appointment of former Alabama attorney general William Pryor to that court.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and others are backing a challenge asking the court to rule that the appointment was unconstitutional.

Bush appointed Pryor in February during a one-week recess of the Senate, which must confirm judicial nominees. The Constitution gives the president the right to appoint judges directly when Congress is not in session.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20040720/D83U9NF00.html

[candy331]

1. If the constitution gives the president the right

then what is this scrap really all about?

[hlthe2b]

3. Congress was not officially recessed

So, I guess it boils down to what defines "recess" for the purposes of a Recess Appointment.

[MallRat]

2. I don't think a week's vacation constitutes grounds for a recess appt.

Otherwise, Presidents would never submit a judicial candidate for confirmation by the Senate... they'd just wait until the Senate took a day off.

Inertia would make it difficult to justify withdrawal of the recess appointee from the bench.

-MR