That’s pretty close to what Roberts got, btw. He got 78 total votes.
You know, I’d actually like him to zing Kennedy with that one. Kennedy comes across as nothing more than a grumpy old fart. How dare this justice have a different view of the law than I have!!
Fifteen Justices were named to the Supreme Court through recess appointment.
I think there will if he refuses any more specificty vis-a-vis balance of powers than he has offered so far.
they will nuke, and fuck’em if they can’t take a joke…We will soldier on without the filibuster if need be–it has never been a friend of the left, historically.
The pugs will rue the day they dropped that particular a bomb.
not even his tie-knotting disability?
That is indeed amazing, captain. Who was the last such justice?
I see he’s come back for the pm with a better job (better tie, too.) his mother must have been watching tv this morning…
I don’t see a recess appt unless and until the nuke option fails
Amazingly enough, it has happened. There have been a couple of cases where a sitting associate justice was given a recess appointment to be Chief Justice. William Brennan was the only “new to the court” recess appointment I could find, done by Eisenhower in 1956. He was later confirmed. Details can be viewed here. Do a find on recess.
Also Potter Stewart. My searching on the Cornell site didn’t show 15, Captain Amazing. Got a link to your source?
Suppose Dick Cheney were to drop over dead while Congress was out of session. Could Bush make a recess appointment to the vice-presidency?
Actually, my source was C-Span
http://www.c-span.org/questions/week156.asp
which says 15. However, looking some more, I’m finding an AP article that says 12. I’ll have to do some research to figure out which number, if either, is right.
I’m finding between six and fifteen.
The one thing they all agree on is that all the appointments bar one (John Rutledge) were later confirmed by the Senate.
Nope. The twenty-fifth ammendment says: Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
I would not be surprised if Bush has a creative interpretation of that clause. 
Very interesting. History News Network has this to say:
Who is that woman behind Alito and why is she wearing such a smirk? I wonder if she knows she’s on camera.
A recess appointment becomes ineffective, and the office so filled becomes vacant again, if it is not confirmed by the Senate by the end of its next session. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recess_appointment
Sandra Day O’Connor is still in good health and has stated her intention to keep on working until her replacement is confirmed. So the seat is not really “vacant,” and a recess appointment would be very hard to justify.
I’m trying to remember if ford and rockefeller were confirmed and I guess they were.
If it’s a confirmable position, I think its subject to recess appt.
PRAISE JESUS!!