Ya lose some

For the second time in five weeks, Shrub has used a Congressional recess to appoint a reactionary to a seat on a federal appeals court. The beneficiary this time was William H. Pryor Jr., the attorney general of Alabama.

Pryor, a fanatical opponent of abortion, also had argued in a brief before the Supreme Court that if a law in Texas outlawing sex between homosexuals was overturned, it would open the way for legalized "prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography and even incest and pedophilia." In addition, he had a record of soliciting contributions for the Republican National Committee from companies doing business in Alabama, who would be subject to his authority as Attorney General. His nomination had been blocked by a Democratic filibuster.

Displaying the usual sort of whining you hear from bullies who are faced with people ready to play by their rules, Bush pouted that

"A minority of Democratic senators has been using unprecedented obstructionist tactics to prevent him and other qualified nominees from receiving up-or-down votes. ... Their tactics are inconsistent with the Senate's constitutional responsibility and are hurting our judicial system."

But of course, such tactics are entirely in keeping with Senate rules, and they and a number of others were used regularly against judicial nominees offered by Bill Clinton.

The actual abuse here is by Bush. (Big surprise.) The authority to make recess appointments was intended to cover periods in which there might be an extended time before the Senate could act on a nomination. The recess in this case was one week, which certainly was not what anyone had in mind when the provision was written into the Constitution. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) called it "questionably legal and politically shabby."

But that of course didn't deter the Rethuglicans, who suggested in the wake of the appointment that there may be more to come.

The only upside is that a recess appointment is only valid until the end of the current session of Congress. So unless he's confirmed by the Senate, Pryor will have to leave the bench sometime in the fall of 2005. Judge Charles Pickering, the other recipient of Bush's largesse, will have to vacate the bench this fall.

Footnote: During the debate in the Judiciary Committee about Pryor, Democrats complained about a television campaign that smeared opponents of Pryor as anti-Catholic.

But Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican and Mr. Pryor's principal supporter, called him "this solid Catholic individual" and said that his opposition to abortion, for example, in cases of rape and incest, was good Catholic doctrine. Therefore, he said, if someone is opposed for holding that position, "Are we not saying that good Catholics need not apply?"

No, what we're saying is that someone who by your own argument would base his judicial decisions on his religious beliefs is unfit for the bench. We are not - at least not yet - a theocracy.