[kingu]

Almost correct, but not quite. O’Bama theoretically could make a recess appointment, which would hold only until the new Senate is seated in January 2017.

Everything I've read said that a recess appointment is not possible for SCOTUS. (not that this has stopped the Obama administration in the past...)

[Georgia Girl 2]

No Obama cannot make a recess appointment for a Supreme Court Justice.

[Hawthorn]

>> Everything I’ve read said that a recess appointment is not possible for SCOTUS <<

I think you’re wrong. Please cite chapter and verse.

And by the way, Prez Bush successfully made a recess appointment for Judge Charles Pickering, who then served for a year or so on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Therefore, precedent shows that the Judicial Branch of the federal government is subject to the same constitutional provisions on recess appointments as is the executive branch. The constitution doesn’t differentiate between the two branches.

Moreover, any attempt by statute to carve out a special status on recess appointments for the SCOTUS would surely be struck down as extra-constitutional.

[kabar]

New Jersey judge William J. Brennan was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 through a recess appointment. This was done in part with an eye on the presidential campaign that year; Eisenhower was running for reelection, and his advisors thought it would be politically advantageous to place a northeastern Catholic on the court. Brennan was promptly confirmed when the Senate came back into session.