Recess appointment looks more and more unseemly

NY Post ^ | July 14, 2010 | Abby Wisse Schachter

[Scanian]

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs spent a lot of time at a briefing earlier this week claiming that Donald Berwick was given a recess appointment to head Medicare and Medicaid because they didn't want to wait "months and months and months" for a confirmation vote . Gibbs responded to reporter queries about wanting to avoid confirmation hearings with a flat denial. We would have welcomed the hearings, Gibbs claimed, but we didn't want the delay in getting him confirmed. Gibbs' reasoning is looking even shabbier today than it did way back yesterday. Why? Because according to this piece by Byron York , Berwick had more strikes against him than just the fact that he's a rationing advocate. As if that repugnant position wasn't bad enough, it now seems that Berwick who is in charge of implementing ObamaCare doesn't have a care in the world about his own health coverage. He has a deal from his previous position as head of a nonprofit called Institute for Health Care Improvement, that guarantes him health care from "retirement until death" for him and his spouse

[Joe Boucher]

Just wait til the Pubbies use this garbage when they take over the presidency again.
Let the dems howl to the moon.
Recess appointment Robert Bork to the Court of appeals in Calif.
:-)

[xzins]

why exactly would a president who controls both house and senate feel a need to recess appoint any nominee?

especially before he'd ever had confirmation hearings?

I don't think they read the "recess appointment" right in the first place. See underlined below

Art 2, Sect 2

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

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.

I think the vacancy must HAPPEN during the recess, and that all others are subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

I don't recall the US Constitution having other places where word order is ignored. Anyone else know of any?

I would have written it this way to get the process we currently follow: "The president shall have the power DURING THE RECESS OF THE SENATE to fill up all vacancies that may have happened."

There's no doubt Obama did this to avoid "death panel" questions.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

What, you’re quibbling over the grammar and semantics used by a bunch of dead white slave owners 220 years ago? Get with the program. /s

[xzins]

Yep, I’m a hopeless retrograde, and I also support the notion that filibusters are unconstitutional in that they violate a clear constititional directive in favor of a made up senate amending of the constitution called the filibuster.