Senate Republican leaders have, for now, decided to pursue a vote on the nomination of John Bolton to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. If this does not happen, there has been talk of President Bush putting Mr. Bolton on the job through a recess appointment. Although such appointments have been recently criticized, they have a long history and the president has wide latitude to make them.

The first recess appointment was made by George Washington. Since then more than 300 have been made, including 15 Supreme Court justices.

A provision allowing recess appointments was included in the Constitution by the Continental Congress without a dissenting vote. At that time, the issue was a practical one. Congress was in recess more than in session and travel to and from the capitol was slow. The early Senate was usually in recess from March through December and difficult travel conditions sometimes meant delays in enough Senators arriving to assemble a quorum. The president was given the power to make recess appointments so top government jobs, including judgeships, were not vacant while waiting for the Senate to assemble.

Today, Congress is in session more often and recess appointments have become a way to circumvent the Senate confirmation process. President Theodore Roosevelt used recess appointment to go around what he viewed as an ineffective Senate.

Recess appointments have been made both during the shorter breaks within a session of Congress as well as during the longer recess between the two sessions. Senate leaders have frequently complained about the appointments made during short intra-session recesses. Some have threatened to litigate the matter to the Supreme Court, but none have yet done that. A federal appeals court in 1962 ruled that the president had broad authority to make recess appointment decisions.

The U.S. Attorney General in 1921 tried to clarify what counted as a recess. He said that a break from Aug. 24 to Sept. 21 in the middle of a session was sufficient to allow recess appointment. He then contemplated that two-day break was not a recess, nor was an adjournment of five or 10 days.

In most cases recess appointees have not been controversial, with about 85 percent of recess appointees later confirmed by the Senate. Recess appointees serve until the end of the next congressional session. If Mr. Bolton were to be appointed during the upcoming summer recess, he would serve until 2007.

President Ronald Reagan made 243 recess such appointments. President Jimmy Carter made 68 of them. President Bill Clinton made 140 recess appointments and President George W. Bush made 110 recess appointments during his first term.

Popular or not, a recess appointment of Mr. Bolton would follow long precedent.