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Here's what the statute actually says:

§ 546. Vacancies

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the Attorney General may appoint a United States attorney for the district in which the office of United States attorney is vacant.

(b) The Attorney General shall not appoint as United States attorney a person to whose appointment by the President to that office the Senate refused to give advice and consent.

(c) A person appointed as United States attorney under this section may serve until the qualification of a United States Attorney for such district appointed by the President under section 541 of this title.

So I guess the Dems complaints are what? 1) It gives the power to the AG, instead of the President. 2) On its face, it's not limited to when the Senate is not in session.

In my view, it doesn't add a lot to the President's Constitutional recess appointment power. I'm not sure why the Dems think repealing this is going to prevent some gargantuan abuse. The statute wasn't even in effect when Clinton fired every single US attorney in the country, and appointed his flunkies to replace them. So apparently, it's not the statute that's the problem.

So I guess the Dems complaints are what? 1) It gives the power to the AG, instead of the President. 2) On its face, it's not limited to when the Senate is not in session.

The Dems complaints are two fold:

1. Attorneys have rarely been "fired" in the middle of a term, as opposed to housecleaning at the start of the term. See my previous post.

2. The Patriot Act allows the Executive branch to bypass Senate confirmation any time they choose, so they can put anyone they want in these positions.

So I guess the Dems complaints are what?

They want to change section 546 back to what it used to be. The *current* subsection 546(c) reads as follows:

(c) A person appointed as United States attorney under this section may serve until the qualification of a United States Attorney for such district appointed by the President under section 541 of this title.

There is currently no subsection 546(d) at all. Previously, section 546 had subsections 546(c) and 546(d), which read as follows:

(c) A person appointed as United States attorney under this section may serve until the earlier of--
      (1) the qualification of a United States attorney for such district appointed by the President under section 541 of this title;
      or
      (2) the expiration of 120 days after appointment by the Attorney General under this section.
(d) If an appointment expires under subsection (c)(2), the district court for such district may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled. The order of appointment by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the court.

The proposed "new" law will simply delete the current subsection 546(c) and replace it with the subsections 546(c) and 546(d) that used to be there.

In my view, it doesn't add a lot to the President's Constitutional recess appointment power.

Actually, it adds a hell of a lot to the President's power when you compare it to the law that was in effect before. Before, whoever the AG appointed to fill the vacancy would be gone after 120 days. Currently, whoever the AG appoints will hold the position indefinitely, until the President gets around to nominating an appointee to be confirmed by the Senate.