I know when Clinton tried to make a recess appointment (I forget if it was judicial or not), the Republican Congress almost had a heart attack and Clinton immediately apologized. Now to avoid Democrat filibusters, George W. Bush is apparently resorting to the rarely used “recess appointment” strategy, thus bypassing the Senate’s Consent and Advice (compare this and this).
Anyways, no one seems to be stopping him, successfully at least. But my question is this: Would Bush dare use this strategy for the next Supreme Court nominee (if he gets to make it)? In theory, it would just be another appointment, and this strategy would apply the same way. But would Bush dare to do such a thing? And if he would, would the Democratic (or Republican for that matter) Senators allow it?
I don’t think so… in fact, I’m nearly certain of it. See, it’s easy to recess appoint people to a circuit court of appeals because no average person cares or really should care about a circuit court of appeals. But people know what the Supreme Court is, and in general they have a lot of respect for it, more than any other branch of government. I imagine that if Bush tried to recess appoint someone to the Surpreme Court, the reaction would be similar to when FDR tried packing the court during the New Deal; even many of FDRs supporters thought the idea was a ridiculous abuse of power.
While the Supreme Court has obviously become more political in recent years, turning it into a political plaything, with a series of justices being appointed and then having to step down a year later, would not sit well at all with the public
