Terence P. Jeffrey
CNS News
1/25/2013
…In an amicus brief that they jointly submitted to the court, the National Right to Work Foundation and Mark Levin’s Landmark Legal Foundation argued that because the Constitution gives the House and Senate sole power to set their own rules of proceedings, Obama has no power to say when the Senate is in or out of session.
The National Right to Work Foundation is currently providing free legal assistance to four workers who have cases before the NLRB.
“The President improperly arrogated to himself the power to declare the constitutional significance of the Senate’s proceedings, notwithstanding the prerogative to make its own rules,” National Right to Work and Landmark told the court.
If, as the Obama administration argued to the court, Obama could unilaterally determine when the Senate was in session and when it was not for purposes of making recess appointments, than the Senate’s power to confirm federal officials was meaningless.
“Indeed, if the president has the power to determine for himself when the Senate is in recess, he can declare it in recess on a whim, during any lunch break, weekend, or even when he believes that the Senators’ debate has stalled and they are not working efficiently and effectively as a body,” National Right to Work and Landmark said in their brief.
So, did the court believe the president could declare the Senate in recess every weekend the members went home—or any time they broke for lunch?
In his opinion, Chief Judge David Sentelle systematically analyzed the actual constitutional language in question and what it meant to the Framers…
Read the complete article at CNS News.
