Presidential recess appointments

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about Obama appointing 15 people to office during the recess. The process of recess appointments by a sitting President is not new or particularly unusual. We know that George Washington made the first such appointment of John Rutledge in 1795. That appointment was later rejected by the Senate and Rutledge left office at the end of the year. The Supreme Court has never spoken on the constitutional question of recess appointments, but the lower courts have ruled that the Constitution gives the President this power and that it extends until the end of that year when Congress recesses. The exact Constitution wording is:

Article 2, Section 2 "He shall have power ... and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."

So, we can argue the politics about recess appointments and whether we think the President is abusing his power, but we cannot argue the constitutionality of this power. The U.S. Senate Historical Office; U.S. Senate Library; and Congressional Research Service have provided the below chart on past Presidential appointments. It is not complete as it only goes back to 1933 and it does not have any appointments by Obama since July 2010, but it does give a good look at the trends of how often this power is used by the President, whoever it is.

Total Recess Appointments, by President, 1933‐2010 (as of July 6, 2010)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933‐1945) = 89
President Harry S. Truman (1945‐1953) = 195
President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953‐1961) = 193
President John F. Kennedy (1961‐1963) = 53
President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963‐1969) = 36
President Richard M. Nixon (1969‐1974) = 41
President Gerald R. Ford (1974‐1977) = 12
President James E. Carter (1977‐1981) = 68
President Ronald W. Reagan (1981‐1989) = 243
President George H.W. Bush (1989‐1993) = 77
President William J. Clinton (1993‐2001) = 139
President George W. Bush (2001‐2009) = 171
President Barack H. Obama (2009‐present) = 15