Which recent presidents did recess appointments?

[CTyankee]

I'd like toknow how common this practice is. I don't remember any president doing one but I am not "up" on my recess appointment history! Any DUer out there know this?

[comsymp]

1. All of 'em

The Internets are full of that info today but here's a quick recap. IIRC, * has done something like 107, Clinton did around 140, Bush the Smarter did about 60-70 and Raygun did around 250.

These are approximations from recollections of what I've read today - YMMV.

EDIT FOR LINKY

[CTyankee]

10. May I ask what is "YMMV"? n/t

[Viking12]

12. Your mileage may vary

An online acronym substitute for "approximately".

Edit: spelling

[CTyankee]

14. I think you mean "vary"

yes?:)

[Viking12]

15. Looks like I fixed it as you were posting

Thanks anyway :silly: :hi: :hug: :applause:

[Justitia]

2. It's common, but NEVER for the UNITED NATIONS.

And Shrub has recess appointed more than any president - 'cuz they were all losers who couldn't get appointed even w/his own party in charge.

[lynne]

6. I don't think so -

- based upon what the WP is posting. Below is taken from another DU thread and can be found at WP.
___

President Bush: 106 recess appointments, including Bolton, mostly to minor posts. Among them:

_Anthony J. Principi, chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, April 2005. Bush used the recess to also appoint the panel's other eight members, circumventing a move by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., to delay the base closings.

_William Pryor, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, February 2004. The Alabama judge's re-nomination and Senate approval this June was part of a deal struck by centrist senators to avoid a judicial filibuster battle.

_Charles Pickering, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, January 2004. First nominated in 2001, he was blocked by Senate Democrats. He retired when his temporary appointment expired last December.

_Eugene Scalia, Labor Department solicitor, January 2002. Bush extended Scalia's term by naming him acting solicitor in November 2002, with the intent of re-nominating him before a GOP-controlled Senate. But Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, resigned in January 2003.

_Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere, January 2002. The former Reagan White House aide left when his recess term expired the following November.
___

President Clinton: 140 recess appointments over two terms. Among them:

_Former Sen. Wyche Fowler, D-Ga., ambassador to Saudi Arabia, August 1996. Put in the post two months after a bombing that killed 19 American soldiers stationed there, he received Senate confirmation in October 1997 and served until March 2001.

_Mickey Kantor, commerce secretary, April 1996. He replaced Ron Brown, who died in a plane crash, but left in January 1997 before his nomination went before the Senate.

_Roger Gregory, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, December 2000. He was later re-nominated by Bush and confirmed by the Senate.

_Bill Lann Lee, assistant attorney general for civil rights, August 2000. Blocked by Senate Republicans, he was appointed acting assistant attorney general in 1997, then received the recess appointment to serve out Clinton's term.

_James Hormel, ambassador to Luxembourg, June 1999. A gay philanthropist whose nomination was blocked by Senate Republicans, he remained ambassador until near the end of Clinton's term.
___

_The first President Bush made 77 recess appointments over one term, and President Reagan made 243 over two terms.
___

Other recess appointments of note:

_President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in October 1961, getting around opposition from Southern senators. Their resistance had weakened by the following September, and the Senate approved him 54-16.

_President Dwight Eisenhower made three recess appointments to the Supreme Court: Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953) and Associate Justices William Brennan (1956) and Potter Stewart (1958). Each later received Senate confirmation.

_President George Washington appointed John Rutledge of South Carolina as chief justice during a 1795 recess. The Senate rejected the nomination and his appointment expired after he served one term.

[Justitia]

8. I should have been more clear - I meant at the same time in terms.

Expecting him to far exceed anyone else by the time his addt'l 4 yrs are up.

Consider me corrected on that point.

[ieoeja]

3. All of them.

This was intended to be used when a vacancy occurs while the Senate is not in session. However, * is not the first president to use a recess appointment to sneak someone pass the Senate. Clinton did this extensively his second term in office when Republicans refused to bring almost half his judicial nominees to a vote.

[rinsd]

4. Recess appts are common but not for ambassadorships (nt)

[mike_c]

5. it's a common practice....

See www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS21308.pdf

[endarkenment]

7. Not recent but...

Ike appointed 3 supreme court justices this way.

[quaoar]

11. Including Earl Warren

[CTyankee]

13. Huh? Who in the hell were they?

How could this be? SC justices are so controversial today, I just don't remember how that situation could have occurred. However, even tho I lived through the Eisenhower years, all eight of them, I don't recall that (I was a kid).

[endarkenment]

16. earl warren william brennan potter stewart eom

[City Lights]

9. MSNBC had numbers earlier.

Can't remember exact numbers, but these are close - reagan had the most with 243. big bush had 77, Clinton had 140. Sorry, but I'm drawing a blank on the _{deranged toddler}.

on edit - fixed Clinton's number. :dunce: