A New USSC Chair

Interestingly, as this AP story reports, President Bush yesterday announced his intention to use his recess appointment power to name Southern District of Texas US District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa as the new chair of the US Sentencing Commission. This is just a expected promotion, rather than an appointment, since Judge Hinojosa already serves a member of the USSC (details here along with all the Commissioners’ bios), and the President had previously nominated Judge Hinojosa for this top spot.

Notably, in their recent Senate testimony, Commissioners John Steer and William Sessions stressed that “the Sentencing Commission remains in critical need of a full slate of Commissioners.” Perhaps President Bush should consider making a true recess appointment, as well. As I suggested here, there is a lot more that I think the USSC could and should be doing.