Jim Cole, who’s been waiting for the Senate to act on his nomination to be deputy attorney general longer than anyone else who’s been nominated to that position in the past 30 years, is being put into the job via a “recess appointment,” the White House just announced.

His name pops up along with those of five people being put into ambassadorships.

As NPR’s Carrie Johnson reported last month, when Cole had already been waiting for more than two months, he is headed for a job that makes him basically the chief operating officer of the Justice Department. A former prosecutor who went on to build a lucrative private law practice, Cole’s nomination ran into trouble because some Republicans don’t agree with what they say are statements he’s made that indicate he views the 9/11 attacks more as criminal acts than acts of war. Copyright 2010 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.