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Politics: President Bush was forced to sidestep the nomination process last week and make a significant recess appointment. Reason: Raw politics played by a senator who doesn't like the nominee's policy position. Bush last Wednesday appointed Andrew Biggs as deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. If he wanted his man in that post, which is the chief executive's prerogative, he had no other choice but to bypass the confirmation process. Democrat Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, refused to give Biggs a hearing. Biggs' qualifications weren't at issue. With three college degrees, Capitol Hill experience, service on...

Yesterday Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a number of changes in key senior positions in his administrations. A number of them represent great moves, and a few of them are, frankly very disturbing. Let's start with the great news! First and foremost, the Governor's elevation of conservative Dan Dunmoyer to the position of Cabinet Secretary is outstanding news for all of us. Dan is capable, smart and effective. In this key position which acts as a liaison and coordinator between the Governor and all of the Agency heads will be in good hands. Undoubtedly this will be a big relief for former...

The 17th Amendment to the Constitution (1913) established direct election of senators, as well as a means of filling vacant Senate seats. If a vacancy occurs due to a senator's death, resignation, or expulsion, the 17th Amendment allows state legislatures to empower the governor to appoint a replacement to complete the term or to hold office until a special election can take place. There are a few exceptions to this rule. The states of Oregon, Wisconsin and Massachusetts do not allow the governor to appoint, but rather require special elections to fill a vacancy. Oklahoma allows the governor to appoint...

ALBANY, Aug. 18 — Gov. George E. Pataki nominated an upstate Republican on Friday to be his fifth appointee on the seven-member Court of Appeals, moving to assure that his imprint on the state’s highest court will last long into the next governor’s term. The governor appointed Eugene F. Pigott Jr., the presiding justice of the appellate division in Buffalo, to fill the seat that is being vacated by Judge George Bundy Smith, whose 14-year term ends next month. Judge Smith had applied to be reappointed to a second term, but several legal experts said that his prospects were harmed...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez appointed four people as alternates to the California Coastal Commission on Friday, a move the Sierra Club and at least one commissioner said he had no authority to do. The appointments came days before the coastal commission was scheduled to cast a final vote on a multimillion golf project in Pebble Beach, a high profile development backed by actor Clint Eastwood, former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and retired golfer Arnold Palmer. The Pebble Beach Co. - which hosts the annual fundraiser for the Democratic Party - is pushing a plan to build an 18-hole...

Everyone deserves a break, even the U.S. Senate. But enough already. It's been two months since Samuel Alito was confirmed to the Supreme Court and it's past time Senate Republicans got back to work confirming appeals-court judges. They won't have 55 seats forever... Judges are a key issue for the GOP's base, who could stay home on Election Day rather than turn out for Republicans who shilly-shally about confirming President Bush's nominees. There are 17 vacancies on the appeals bench, including nine pending nominations. They deserve to be filled as soon as possible... An excellent place to start would be...

President Bush is expected to nominate four judges to the federal district court on Wednesday, ending a stalemate that had kept four seats vacant for a year, sources close to the process said last week. By agreement of the White House and New Jersey's two senators, Assistant U.S. Attorney Renee Bumb will be nominated to fill the Camden, N.J., seat vacated by U.S. District Judge Stephen Orlofsky last year, an aide to Sen. Frank Lautenberg says. The other three vacancies, which opened when Chief Judge John Bissell retired and Judges William Bassler and William Walls went on senior status, will...

NOTE: Patrick Leahy referenced "court-packing" in the Judiciary Committee debate today. The scumbag is trying to equate the Constitutional power of the president to appoing judges with the unconstitutional attempt of FDR. The dumbed down Americans among us may fall for it. We won't. ========================================================================= FDR's court-packing fiasco By K. Daniel Glover web posted July 12, 1999 The Supreme Court. The title alone lends an air of distinction to that august legal body and its nine justices who sit in judgment on an entire nation. And indeed, the United States' highest tribunal, more than any other root of America's democratic...

Yah, yah...reports surfaced this week that Cardinal McCarrick will be staying on as archbishop of Washington for a little while longer. Our sources told us back in July it looked like McCarrick's resignation would not be accepted this year. Bottomline: Pope Benedict has bigger fish to fry. Roman Curia reform and naming of new bishops for vacant sees takes priority. We do expect some movement by next summer, contrary to the 2 year timeframe published in the official Washington Archdiocese press release. Our sources tell us that the Vatican letter to McCarrick NEVER mentioned any length of time...yes, that's right...nowhere...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Monday the hiring of five more key staff members in his administration, including aides for homeland security and the environment. Four of the posts are deputy mayors and the fifth fills the post of director of finance and performance management. Annual salaries for each of the five ranges from $104,000 to $130,000. "I looked for people who brought with them a passion for public service, the highest ethical standards and a commitment to improving the quality of life," Villaraigosa said in a statement. Maurice Suh, a former deputy chief of the public corruption division in the...

The Senate's most self-satisfied senator, Joseph Biden, has established a website asking citizens to join him in pressuring President Bush to pick a liberal Supreme Court nominee so that a contentious confirmation battle can be averted. Well, yes, I'll admit he didn't quite put it that way, but if the Left's currently favorite sycophant, Joe Wilson, is entitled to spurts of "literary flair," why shouldn't the rest of us be as well? Let's look at what Biden actually said because it is revealing of the liberal Democrat mindset toward the judiciary, the Constitution and the will of the people. Biden...

The retirement of Justice O’Connor didn’t ignite the battle for the heart and soul of America, but it sure will kick it into high gear. The impending retirement of Chief Justice Rehnquist will shift that battle into overdrive and the political mental midgets’ pomposity into overload. [Balderdash from a pompous ass, for you sadly educated left-wing-nuts.] The first thing one must ponder on this topic is how the Supreme Court of the United States became the front line of this battle in the first place. According to one of my favorite founders Thomas Jefferson, "A free people claim their rights...

I'm troubled by what I'm hearing from politicians -- on both sides -- concerning the type of person who should replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the process that should be followed to determine her replacement. On "Fox News Sunday," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said, "Well, replacing a Supreme Court justice is very important, but they come and go. Really what I think is at stake is the reputation of the Senate. Can we have a confirmation process that will hold the Senate up to the world and the nation as a deliberative body made up of...

The Supreme Court decision in the Kelo v. City of New London case and the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provide both the reason and opportunity for the president to nominate and Senate Republicans (and fair-minded Democrats, if there are any of them anymore) to confirm a true constitutional constructionist to the Supreme Court. The Kelo case, which has been the subject of numerous editorials in the past week, is possibly one of the most egregious rulings to be handed down by the Supreme Court since the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The court’s decision in that case excised a...

My reaction to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement was almost as positive as my reaction in 1981 was negative when the Reagan administration announced that they were going to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court. It wouldn't matter if all nine Justices of the Supreme Court were women, if these were the nine best people available. But to decide in advance that you were going to appoint a woman and then look only among women for a nominee was a dangerous gamble with a court that has become dangerous enough otherwise. The recent outrageous Supreme Court decision making anyone's...

The Supreme Court ends its work tomorrow with the highest of drama: an anticipated retirement, a ruling on the constitutionality of government Ten Commandments displays and decisions in other major cases. Traditionally, there is an air of suspense as the justices meet for the final time before breaking for three months. Justices usually wait until then to resolve blockbuster cases. Added to that is the expectation that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is presiding over the court for the last time. Chief Justice Rehnquist has thyroid cancer and many court experts believe his retirement is imminent. Long lines have formed...

1. The Constitution gives the President the power, when necessary, of direct appointment to federal Judicial and high Executive branch positions. This is through the recess appointment. 2. The Constitution gives the Senate the power to create their own rules; and apparently rules can be made that subvert other sections of the Constitution. This has been proven in the Senate's subversion, via the filibuster, of their Constitutional requirement to advise and consent on the President's nominees to higher courts and executive branch positions. 3. Based on the President's recess appointment power, this obstructionism of the Senate can be overcome, but...

Once again, the U.S. Senate has trashed the U.S. Constitution. Judicial nominees require "advice and consent" of the U.S. Senate. Had the founders envisioned the need to require a super-majority for consent, they would have specified that requirement, as they did for treaty ratification and for constitutional amendments. While the Constitution does authorize Congress to establish its own rules of procedure, this procedure must fall within requirements set forth within the Constitution. Until 1917, there was no procedure for stopping Senate debate on any issue. The first "cloture" rule required two-thirds of the Senate to stop debate. In 1975, Senator...

This past week, the charlatans in the Senate of the United States managed to once again delay the confirmation of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations. President Bush needs to listen to these imprudent senators and learn from his past mistakes. The Senate led by socialist Democrats and grandstanding Republicans who want attention, is only trying to help the president set the ship of state on a proper course to "follow" for the future. Your Democrat Party firmly believes that the United States needs to stop its aimless and reckless wondering and let others lead the way. The...

Monday May 14th 1787 was the day fixed for the meeting of the deputies in Convention for revising the federal1 system of Government. On that day a small number only had assembled Seven States were not convened till, Friday 25 of May, when the following members appeared to wit: viz. From Massachusetts Rufus King. N. York ...