Recess Appointments Pros And Cons

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From their establishment to current times, recess appointments have become a far cry from their original intention created the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. When America was founded, the Constitution was created to withstand the test of time. Article I, section II of the Constitution gives the vested president the power to “nominate, and by advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint all ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and judges of the Supreme Court and all other Officers of the United States”, it also states that the president has the “power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions that shall expire at the end of their next session.” This was deliberately added to the vague description of the president to keep positions filled when the Senate would only in session for less than half of the year. The president needed to keep the government running smoothly, even when Senate was not …show more content…

The rise of the use of recess appointments has led the Senate to come up with unjust practices to keep the president from having an opening to recess appoint. Pro-forma sessions were created by Senate democrats to stop President George W. Bush from making recess appointments. Pro-forma sessions were an open Senate floor to start business for the Senate. However, only one senator was needed to bang the gavel into a meeting. These sessions could be as short at thirty seconds. This would deny the President from being able to make any recess appointments, because the Senate would not be in recess, although most members were not in for the session and no votes could be held. These pro-forma sessions are a deceitful way to keep the President from fairly appointing in Senate

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