BOLTON UPDATE: CONFIRMATION UNLIKELY, RECESS APPOINTMENT LOOMING

For months, senators have sought further information about John Bolton's conduct in government, but the White House has refused to cooperate.

Senators still haven't heard why Mr. Bolton asked for the blacked-out names of Americans in National Security Agency conversation intercepts and what he did with them. They still want to know whether Bolton tried to paint a bleaker picture of Syrian weapons programs than intelligence analysts could support in the midst of post-Iraq-war chaos.

On Monday, June 20, Republican Senate Leaders failed on their second attempt to move the nomination to a vote without this key information. They mustered only 54 votes on their second attempt, compared to 57 votes just a month earlier. Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) joined Bolton opponents in voting against the cloture motion in order to prevent a vote on the nomination.

Unless the Administration changes course and hands over the requested documents, Mr. Bolton's only clear route to the UN is an unpopular back-door approach called a recess appointment. The recess appointment is a rare maneuver that would install him for a year and a half without Senate approval, which even some of Bolton’s biggest backers are saying is a bad idea. Some have suggested that President Bush might use the July 4th recess - which lasts only five days - to install Mr. Bolton. This would be an nearly unprecedented abuse of the recess appointment, which was originally put in place so Presidents could fill positions during months-long Congressional recesses. President Bush should choose the other option: withdraw Mr. Bolton and select a new nominee that can better serve U.S. interests at the UN.

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Updated June 27, 2005