Ace,
he never had the support and consent of the Senate.
This means
he was a temporary appointment only. If Bush wanted a UN representative that had the support of Congress,
he should have asked the Senate for advice and consent.
Repeatedly appointing people without the advice and consent of the Senate is a stupid act. The President has the power to do this during a Senate recess,
but only as a temporary measure, and if he does this he had better not expect the Senate to rubber-stamp all of his decisions.
The biggest problem here was putting forward a contrivercial appointee
without asking the advice and consent of the Senate.
In order to get the Senate to consent to an appointment, the Senate needs a 60% vote to close debate, then a 50%+1 in favour vote, under the rules that the Senate has chosen for itself.
The fact was
John Bolton was heavily opposed by Senators, and Bush used his temporary appointment power to do an end-run around the advice and consent clause.
Source:
Quote:
President Bush installed John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations yesterday, employing the presidential power to make temporary appointments to break through a wall of Democratic opposition to Bolton's confrontational brand of conservatism.
Frustrated by the refusal of Senate Democrats to permit a final vote on Bolton's nomination, Bush said he resorted to the 17-month recess appointment to circumvent "partisan delaying tactics" in Washington and to send a resounding message that the White House is serious about reforming the United Nations.
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Quote:
The Bush administration, citing the large number of recess appointments made by presidents, said there is nothing extraordinary about the appointment. But most recess appointments have involved lower-level government positions and do not represent such direct defiance of the opposition party. "It is highly unusual to use it at this level," said Paul C. Light, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in executive-branch staffing.
In the 19th century, the constitutional power to make recess appointments was frequently used out of necessity to keep the government staffed and running when lawmakers were away for long periods. In recent decades, they have increasingly become a convenient way for president to circumvent Senate opposition to controversial picks. President Bill Clinton, for instance, used the power to appoint Bill Lann Lee as assistant attorney general for civil rights over GOP objections.
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