Wire services are reporting that US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton [official website] has resigned, effective at the end of his recess appointment. President Bush named Bolton to the position [JURIST report] on an interim basis last year through a recess appointment [CRS backgrounder, PDF] that will expire when the new congressional session begins in January. A September vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on whether to confirm Bolton's nomination as the permanent US ambassador to the UN was delayed [JURIST report] in what the Bush administration called a "political" block [JURIST report] due to old grievances, not his performance as ambassador.
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