Was the Senate in recess? If it was, then Bush could legally do that.
The fight over these appointments is that the Republicans claim the Senate is NOT in recess. They have apparently refused to allow the Senate to go into formal recess precisely to block these sorts of appointments.
“They have apparently refused to allow the Senate to go into formal recess precisely to block these sorts of appointments. “
And this is exactly what the dems did to Bush when they took over Congress. But Bush didn’t put up any recess appts then.