Recess appointments made by President George W. Bush

The following relates to recess appointments made by President George W. Bush.

• A. Paul Anderson to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner August 22, 2003. [1]
• Michael J. Bartlett to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [2]
• Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in December 2006. [3]
• Andrew G. Biggs was named to be Deputy Director of the Social Security Administration April 4, 2007.
• John R. Bolton as U.N. Ambassador in August 2005, after having been blocked by the Senate. Bolton was Bush's 106th recess appointment. (FSRN 1 Aug '05)
• William B. Cowen to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [4]
• Susan E. Dudley to be Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 4, 2007.
• Eric S. Edelman as undersecretary of defense for policy to replace Douglas Feith in the No. 3 position in the Pentagon. "Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee led by Carl Levin of Michigan, their ranking member, stalled Edelman's nomination to force the release of documents related to a specialized intelligence unit Feith set up before the conflict." [5]
• Gordon R. England to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, January 4, 2006. [6]
• Alice S. Fisher to head the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, after the "nomination stalled over tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility." [7]
• David W. Fleming to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Public) August 22, 2003. [8]
• Peter Flory as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, after having been blocked by the Senate. [9]
• Sam Fox was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenifotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium on April 4, 2007.
• Cynthia A. Glassman to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. [10]
• C. Boyden Gray to be the Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary January 17, 2006.
• Jay Phillip Greene to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [11]
• Floyd Hall to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Hall was appointed in a recess appointment. [12]
• Tracy A. Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security. [13]
• Isacc C. Hunt, Jr. [14] to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. [15]
• JoAnn Johnson to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002. [16]
• Peter N. Kirsanow to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [17]
• Charlotte A. Lane to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. She was nominated on June 7, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [18]
• Robert D. Lenhard to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [19]
• Deborah Matz to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002.
• Ronald E. Meisburg to be General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [20]
• Steven Kent Mullins to be United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota, vice James E. McMahon, January 9, 2006. [21]
• Julie L. Myers to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement), January 4, 2006. [22]
• Daniel Pearson to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. He was nominated on November 14, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [23]
• John Richard Petrocik to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [24]
• Charles W. Pickering, Sr. to Federal Appeals Court January 17, 2004, from which he had been blocked twice by the Senate. [25][26]
• Daniel Pipes to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace August 22, 2003. [27]
• Benjamin A. Powell to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 4, 2006. [28]
• Anthony J. Principi as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, as well as eight members of the Commission, April 1, 2005.
• William H. Pryor, Jr. to 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals February 20, 2004, "in the face of a Democratic filibuster of the nomination." [29][30]
• Otto Juan Reich to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs January 11, 2002. [31]
• Ellen R. Sauerbrey to be Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration), January 4, 2006. [32]
• Eugene Scalia to Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Department of Labor January 11, 2002.
• Peter C. Schaumber to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, for the remainder of a five-year term expiring on August 27, 2010. [33]
• Dorrance Smith to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, January 4, 2006. [34]
• Enrique J. Sosa to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Sosa was appointed in a recess appointment. [35]
• Michael E. Toner to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission March 29, 2002, for the remainder of a term expiring April 30, 2007; first announced November 21, 2001, and nomination sent to Senate March 4, 2002. [36]
• Juanita Alicia Vasquez-Gardner to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. She was nominated on July 24, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [37]
• Hans von Spakovsky to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [38]
• Dennis P. Walsh to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 17, 2006.
• Steven T. Walther to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [39]
• John Paul Woodley, Jr. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) August 22, 2003. [40]

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Resources and articles

Related SourceWatch articles

• Bush's judicial nominees
• nuclear option

Reports & Documents

• "Fast Facts About Recess Appointments," All.org.
• "Judicial Recess Appointments: A Survey of the Arguments," Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, 2001.
• "Rangers and Pioneers Receiving Appointments from the Bush Administration," WhiteHouseforSale.org, August 10, 2004.
• Henry B. Hogue, "Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions," Congressional Research Service, updated March 15, 2005.

External articles

2001

• Major Garrett, "Bush to defy Senate with recess appointments" and "Bush intends to bypass Senate with recess appointments," CNN, December 22, 2001.
• Gina Holland, "Republican senator urges Bush to make recess appointments, Democratic leader argues against it," Associated Press (San Diego Union-Tribune), December 30, 2001.

2002

• Victor Williams, "Why President Bush Should Use Recess Appointments to Fill Wartime Vacancies," FindLaw's Writ, January 1, 2002.
• "Bush issues recess appointments for controversial nominees," GovExec.com (from Congress Daily), January 11, 2002.
• "Bush Ignores Critics, Makes Recess Appointments," Fox News, January 12, 2002.
• "President Bush Announces Recess Appointments including Frankel and Shane," It's America News, March 29, 2002.
• Scott Lindlaw, "Bush bypasses Senate with controversial appointments. He names critic of campaign law to panel that will enforce it; affirmative action critic appointed to civil rights post," Associated Press (Detroit News), March 30, 2002.

2003

• "Bush bypasses Congress with 11 recess appointments," Associated Press (SFGate), April 22, 2003.
• Hugh Hewitt, "Recess Time. With Senate Democrats taking obstructionism to new levels, the president should re-read Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 3," The Weekly Standard, April 23, 2003.
• Kate O'Beirne, "The Joy of Recess: An idea for countering Democratic filibustering - author suggests George W. Bush make judicial appointments during Congressional recess," The Nation (FindArticles), October 13, 2003.
• Stuart Shepard, "Group Calls for Recess Appointments," Focus on the Family, October 14, 2003: "American Life League urges President Bush to circumvent Democratic blockade of his judicial nominees by naming new judges to the bench while the Senate is out of town."
• Alexander Bolton, "GOP Contemplates Recess Appointment for Pickering and Other Blocked Judges," The Hill (US Newswire), November 11, 2003.
• Alexander Bolton, "Bush urged: Seat judges over recess," The Hill, November 12, 2003.
• "Bush bypasses Congress with recess appointments," Capitol Hill Blue, December 27, 2003.
• "Bush Makes Dozen Recess Appointments," NewsMax.com, December 27, 2003.

2004

• Charles Hurt, "Bush names judge despite filibuster," Washington Times, January 17, 2004.
• Vikram David Amar, "The Controversy Over President's Bush Use of a 'Judicial Recess Appointment': Are Such Appointments Constitutional? Do They Hurt the Nomination Process?" FindLaw's Writ, January 23, 2004.
• "Bush uses recess appointment to put nominee on court," CNN, February 20, 2004.
• Jeffrey McMurray, "Bush to again use recess appointment to put Democratic-opposed nominee on appeals court," Associated Press (SFGate), February 20, 2004.
• "Bush's recess judicial," The Daily Times (Maryville, TN), March 3, 2004.
• Howard J. Bashman, "Test Your Knowledge Of Federal Judicial Recess Appointment Trivia," hjbashman.com, March 8, 2004.
• Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Senate Democrats Threaten to Block More Bush Nominees," New York Times, March 26, 2004.
• Jeff Gannon, "Bush Defies Daschle Obstruction with More Recess Appointments," Talon News (MensNewsDaily.com), April 19, 2004.
• "Bush Agrees To Senate Judge Deal," Associated Press (CBS News), May 18, 2004.
• Helen Dewer, "President, Senate Reach Pact on Judicial Nominations. Bush Vows He Won't Use Recess Appointments; 25 to Get Vote," Washington Post, May 19, 2004.
• "Bush Concedes to Democrats Over Recess Appointments. Democrats agree to approve 25 nominees but seven conservative nominees excluded," LifeSiteNews.net, May 19, 2004.
• "Bush's Recess Appointments: Pandering to the Religious Right," Ed's Opinion, May 24, 2004.
• "Bush announces 20 recess appointments," Associated Press (USA Today), July 31, 2004.
• "Bush Rewards Rangers and Pioneers with Recess Appointments. Four Major Fundraisers Named Ambassadors or Placed On Inter-American Foundation Board by the President Without Senate Confirmation," Public Citizen, August 6, 2004.
• Warren Richey, "Battle over recess appointments. High court may rule on the legality of President Bush's use of the controversial tactic to fill judicial vacancies," Christian Science Monitor, December 27, 2004.

2005

• "Recess appointments," World Magazine, January 1, 2005.
• "Bush Appointees. UN nomination sends signal of Bush's disdain," Detroit Free Press, March 10, 2005.
• Hope Yen, "Court Sidesteps Bush Recess Appointment," Associated Press (Political News), March 21, 2005.
• Warren Richey, "Court declines to intervene on judicial appointment that bypassed Senate," Christian Science Monitor (Progress for America), March 22, 2005.
• "Supreme Court Declines To Hear Challenges to Bush's Recess Appointment of Pryor to Federal Bench," Kaiser Network Daily Reports, March 22, 2005.
• "Bush bypasses Senate to close bases," Associated Press (USA Today), April 2, 2005.
• Douglass K. Daniel, "Bush appoints base closings panel," Associated Press (Times Dispatch, Richmond, VA), April 2, 2005.
• "Stall tactic foiled; Bush picks base-closing panel. President acts while Senate in recess, outflanking opposition," Associated Press (MSNBC.MSN.com), April 2, 2005.
• "Blitzer suggested Bush could make a recess appointment like 'Clinton used to do,' but Bush is already on pace to make many more," Media Matters for America, May 13, 2005.
• Noah S. Leavitt, "Bush should use recess appointment power carefully," FindLaw's Writ (CNN), July 4, 2005.
• "A Look at Presidential Recess Appointments," Washington Post, August 1, 2005.
• "Bush Installs Pentagon Official," Yahoo! News, August 2, 2005.
• "Bush Names Edelman to No. 3 Defense Post, Bypassing U.S. Senate," Bloomberg News, August 9, 2005.
• "Bush Names Secretaries of Navy and Air Force," Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2005: "Michael W. Wynne, Bush's choice for Air Force secretary, has been the Defense Department's undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics since 2003. He replaces James G. Roche, who resigned in January. ... Bush selected Donald C. Winter, president of Northrop Grumman Missile Systems in Los Angeles, to become the Navy's top civilian official."
• Ken Thomas, "Bush Bypasses Senate to Install Official," Associated Press (Washington Post), September 2, 2005.
• News Release: "Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate," White House, September 19, 2005: Reappointment of UN Ambassador John R. Bolton and Defense Undersecretary Eric Edelman, as well as the last-minute withdrawal of Terry Neese to be director of the Mint.
• "Bush bypasses Senate to install new deputy defense secretary," Associated Press (Boston Globe), January 4, 2006.
• Thomas B. Edsall, "Bush Appointments Avert Senate Battles," Washington Post, January 5, 2006: "The recess appointments will end at the conclusion of the current congressional session in January 2007."

2007

• Michael Roston, "Kerry: Bush prefers 'paying off cronies' to selecting good ambassadors," The Raw Story, June 26, 2007.