Not to start a fight... but...
The first thing I read on the nomination was a list of how often other presidents have taken advantage of this...
Clinton used it...
It's pretty commonly used.
http://boortz.com/nuze/200508/08022005.html
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IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME
To listen to the media and the Democrats, you would think that a recess appointment was a rare abuse of power. It would be easy to infer that such an outrage hadn't taken place in what...100 years? Nope...quite the contrary. Let's go to the tape.
Using the four most recent presidents, here are the numbers of recess appointments made:
--President George W. Bush: 110 recess appointments in 4 1/2 years in office.
--President Bill Clinton: 140 recess appointments in two terms.
--President Bush Senior: 77 recess appointments in his one term.
--President Ronald Reagan: 240 recess appointments in two terms.
So let's see...according to the calculator, that's 567 recess appointments in the last 25 years, or an average of just over 22 a year. Bush had the power to put Bolton in the ambassador chair and he did it. Other presidents, both Democrat and Republican, have done the same thing.
It's nothing new. Ike even used the recess appointment to put 3 Justices on the Supreme Court. Can you imagine the squeals of the Democrats today if Bush did the same thing?
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