Senate Overturns AG’s Unilateral Appointment Power
The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to repeal a provision of the Patriot Act that gave the executive branch power to replace US Attorneys without Senate confirmation.
The little-noticed 2006 provision, added to the extension of the USA Patriot Act, allowed the attorney general to make temporary appointments of U.S. attorneys for indefinite periods of time.
The measure passed today would reinstate the previous law, which let the attorney general make temporary appointments for as many as 120 days. A court would appoint an interim U.S. attorney if the president didn’t move to fill the vacancy by the end of the 120 days. The measure now goes to the House of Representatives.
Democrats say the 2006 law was misused to circumvent the Senate, which votes to confirm U.S. attorneys nominated by the president.
Clearly it’s not just Democrats; the vote was 94-2. Is this the first shot across the bow in the struggle to restore the balance of power and the system of checks and balances that are so important to our system of government? We can hope.
March 20th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
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March 20th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Who were the two? Sessions and Shelby?
March 20th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
News flash: Shelby and Sessions did not live down to expectations today. NOs were Bond (R-MO) and Hagel (R-NE). Not voting were Biden (D-DE), Johnson (D-SD), McCain (R-AZ), and Mikulski (D-MD).
March 21st, 2007 at 10:06 am
Shelby isn’t that much of a surprise. I’m wondering what temporary insanity caused Sessions and Stevens to vote “yes” on the measure. Those two were the biggest surprises.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:16 am
I was suprised at Hagel’s no vote; I’d be interested to hear his reasoning.