The one thing that has made the United States the longest
running and most respected democracy the world has ever known is
our Constitution. This document provides for three separate and
equal branches of government - legislative, judicial and
executive - but also for checks and balances that prevent one
branch from dominating the other two. One of these checks
requires Senate confirmation of certain executive appointments.
The most significant of these is that of Supreme Court justices.
Another example is the National Labor Relations Board. A most
recent example of the power and authority of this board is when
Boeing decided to move a significant part of its business to
South Carolina. Labor appealed to the NLRB to halt the move. The
board, dominated by members representing labor, did halt this
move and only after numerous concessions by Boeing did it permit
the move. The Constitution permits executive appointments
without Senate confirmation when it is not in session. Though
the Senate was in session, Presi