(02/16/16) Right wing media is running with a story that President Obama cannot appoint a new Supreme Court Justice in an election year due to a 1960 law passed by Democrats. First let’s look at the law.
The law they are citing is not actually even a law, it is a Resolution. S.RES. 334, states: “Expressing the sense of the Senate that the president should not make recess appointments to the Supreme Court, except to prevent or end a breakdown in the administration of the Court’s business.” Quite simply, this means that a President cannot appoint a judge while congress is out of session. Once the congress is back in session, which occurs on February 22, 2016 the President can then nominate his Supreme Court Justice and that nominee will then have to be confirmed by congress. In this resolution there is no mention of an election year at all. This resolution only applies to recess appointments and does not mention election year, therefore we rate this claim to be a Blatant Lie.
Sources
http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/is-a-recess-appointment-to-the-court-an-option/
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/86-1960/s415
By Dave Van Zandt
Do you appreciate our work? Please consider one of the following ways to sustain us.
or
Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources
Be the first to comment on "1960 Law Prevents The President from Appointing Supreme Court Judges"