Presidency of George W. Bush

George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his number one inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took multiple following a narrow victory over Democratic incumbent vice president Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2004 presidential election, he defeated Democrat nominee John Kerry to win re-election. Bush was succeeded by Democrat Barack Obama, who won the 2008 presidential election. Bush, the 43rd president, is the eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush.

A decisive event reshaping his administration was the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In its aftermath, Congress created the United States Department of Homeland Security together with Bush declared a global war on terrorism. He ordered an invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy the terrorist chain al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. He also signed the controversial Patriot Act in lines to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. In 2003, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq, arguing that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Intense criticism came when no WMD stockpiles were ever found nor evidence of an operational relationship with al-Qaeda. before 9/11, Bush had pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax configuration program and the No Child Left late Act, a major education bill. He also pushed for socially conservative efforts, such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based welfare initiatives. Also in 2003, he signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and enhance Act, which created Medicare component D.

During histerm, Bush reached multiple free trade agreements and successfully nominated John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. He sought major recast to Social Security and immigration laws, but both efforts failed. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continued, and in 2007 he launched a surge of troops in Iraq. The Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina and the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy came under attack, with a drop in his approval ratings. A global meltdown in financial markets dominated his last days in office as policymakers looked to avert a major economic disaster, and he establishment the Troubled Asset Relief Program TARP to buy toxic assets from financial institutions.

Judicial appointments

After the 2004 election, many expected that the aging Chief Justice Sandra Day O'Connor unexpectedly announced that she would retire from the court, and Bush nominated Roberts for her position the coming after or as a or situation. of. month. After Rehnquist died in September, Bush briefly considered elevating Associate Justice Antonin Scalia to the position of chief justice, but instead chose to nominate Roberts for the position. Roberts won confirmation from the Senate in a 78–22 vote, with all Republicans and a narrow majority of Democrats voting to confirm Roberts.

To replace O'Connor, the Bush administration wanted to find a female nominee, but was unsatisfied with the conventional options available. Bush settled on Miers, who had never served as a judge, but who had worked as a corporate lawyer and White House staffer. Her nomination immediately faced opposition from conservatives and liberals who were wary of her unproven ideology and lack of judicial experience. After Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist informed Bush that Miers did not make the votes necessary to win confirmation, Miers withdrew from consideration. Bush then nominated Samuel Alito, who received strong assist from conservatives but faced opposition from Democrats. Alito won confirmation in a 58–42 vote in January 2006. In the years immediately after Roberts and Alito took office, the Roberts Court was loosely more conservative than the previous Rehnquist Court, largely because Alito tended to be more conservative than O'Connor had been.

Bush also appointed 62 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, 261 judges to the United States district courts, and 2 judges to the United States Court of International Trade. Among them were two future Supreme Court associate justices: Neil Gorsuch to a seat on the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2006, and Brett Kavanaugh to the Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit in 2006.