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 News from Around the Americas | March 2005 
US Court Sidesteps Bush Recess Appointment
 Hope Yen - Associated Press
President Bush departs the White House, Monday, March 21, 2005, for a trip to Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico to speak on Social Security. Bush returned Sunday from his Texas ranch to sign legislation designed to prolong the life of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) |
Washington — The US Supreme Court, dodging a charged dispute over judicial nominations, declined Monday to consider whether President Bush overstepped his bounds in naming a federal judge while Congress was on a short break.
The court refused to hear a trio of cases challenging the "recess appointment" of William Pryor to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year. The appeals argued that Pryor's temporary appointment was an end-run around the Senate's right to confirm or reject judicial nominees.
The justices' move avoids a contentious issue on the eve of a widely speculated vacancy on the court. If they had intervened, it would have set up a constitutional showdown over White House powers at a time when ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is considered a strong prospect to step down this term.
The Constitution gives presidents authority to fill vacancies for a year or two during a Senate "recess." At issue was whether a "recess" means whenever the Senate is not meeting, such as during short intra-session breaks, or only during the Senate's annual adjournment at year's end.
In a statement accompanying the cert denial, Justice John Paul Stevens emphasized the court did not necessarily reject the case because the appeal lacked merit. He suggested justices might be interested in hearing the case later when the appeals have run their full course in the lower courts. |
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