Can the President pick Rice as a recess appointment as SOS

[bigdarryl]

This was brought up on Joe Madison show and according to him the President can't pick a person as SOS as a recess appointment because the position is to high up in the Government.Is this true or not

[Tx4obama]

1. It is within his power, BUT they said on the news today that would probably NEVER happen...

because is it such a high-power position and a senate hearing/confirmation would be expected by everyone.

Also, a recess appointment would not last for the full four years,
the appointment would still need to be confirmed by the senate otherwise it would expire in at the end of the congressional session.

[TexasTowelie]

2. Yes, but she would have to be confirmed by the Senate in 2013, so nothing would be gained by doing

so. It would probably work against her since the Repukes would say that an under-handed move occurred.

[bigdarryl]

3. I disagree if she's already in the position doing the job

After a year what are they going to do say she's still not qualified and not confirm her

[jeff47]

7. Yes (nt)

[RomneyLies]

6. Wrong, she would be appointed in 2013. She remains for the duration of current Congress

which means her term would end in 2015.

[TexasTowelie]

9. Valid point regarding the delay in her appointment.

I was viewing things under the consideration that Hillary may need or desire to be out of the SOS office before the end of the year. I don't believe that anyone (including the President) has given her any deadline.

[RomneyLies]

4. Yes, but it would undermine her with the rest of the world so no way would it ever happen. n/t

[jeff47]

5. Theoretically, but the House isn't adjouring

They're refusing to adjourn so that Congress remains in-session, so that recess appointments aren't supposed to be possible.

It's not completely clear that this actually blocks recess appointments - a previous president made a recess appointment when Congresspeople went home for the weekend.

[ncteechur]

10. The house has nothing to do with confirmation

[jeff47]

11. Yes, but if they don't adjourn, Congress is still in session

Doesn't matter that the House doesn't vote on confirmation. Recess appointments can happen when Congress is not in session, not just the Senate.

[Purveyor]

8. I really hope he doesn't 'burn' his election mandate over this appointment. eom

[NYC Liberal]

12. He's wrong. Even Supreme Court justices can be recess-appointed (and have been).

But personally I don't think it would be a good idea. I didn't like the way Bush did it with Bolton simply to get around the Senate because they rejected him, and I don't think Obama should do the same.

There's no reason to anyway. If nominated, she will be confirmed easily despite the grumblings of a couple of sore losers. Remember when Cornyn threatened to block Hillary in 2009? The vote was 94-2.

[Beacool]

13. Why waste so much political goodwill on Rice?

The fight over the fiscal cliff is far more important than maybe, possibly, choosing Rice as SOS.