6 of one / half-dozen of the other...

Hat tip Opinion Journal Interesting comment - a lot of people are dogpiling on President Bush for using a recess appointment to elevate Judge Charles Pickering to the appellate bench. (The appointment was blocked by a Democratic Filibuster even though 54 Senators had voted in favor of his appointment) The NY Times had an editorial excoriating Bush for this tactic. bq. President Bush has used the only avenue remaining to him to install Charles Pickering Sr. of Mississippi on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: a recess appointment, which avoids the confirmation process. That recess appointments are a perfectly legal device used by other presidents in the past does not make this appointment any more palatable. Mr. Pickering is absolutely the wrong choice for one of the nation's most sensitive courts. It is curious to note that the NY Times also had an editorial in January 2001 praising President Clinton for doing the very same thing. bq. By appointing Roger Gregory to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit while Congress is in recess, President Clinton rightly moved to address two related problems � the shameful failure to integrate that appeals court and the refusal by Congress to consider judicial nominees with reasonable dispatch. Bias? Oh No Sir - We are the Media and we report fairly and without bias.