Christopher Bedford
The Daily Caller
1/13/2014
On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia slammed President Barack Obama’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution during oral arguments over Recess appointments.
The case, National Labor Relations Board vs. Noel Canning, is over whether the president acted legally when he made a series of temporary appointments to the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was not conducting business but still gavelling in and out every day.
Clause three of the Constitution’s section on presidential powers states that, “The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.”…
…Since the National Labor Relations Board conflict, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has broken centuries of tradition by allowing Senate approval for appointments by majority vote, thereby making the case less consequential to Senate procedure…
Read the entire article at The Daily Caller.
Related: At Althouse:
… U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. The Solicitor General made little headway in arguing that the [Recess Appointments Clause] meant the president to have significant power to make temporary appointments, and that deferring to the Senate would, in effect, destroy that power. He seemed to startle even some of the more liberal judges when he said that, if it was a contest between historical practice and the words of the Constitution, practice should count the most….
Washington lawyer Miguel A. Estrada, speaking for the Senate’s current Republican members, made a vigorous defense of leaving the Senate to decide its own procedures, including when it takes a recess….
Update: Scalia Labels Obama ‘Self-Interested’ During Oral Arguments Over Recess Appointments
Supremes Poised to Strike Down Obama’s Recess Appointments
…For decades, presidents of both parties have strayed from the limits of the Constitution’s Recess Appointments Clause, which allows the president to fill vacancies when the Senate is in recess and therefore cannot confirm nominations. But Obama made an unprecedented power grab when he declared the Senate in recess even though that body was actually holding meetings, and stacked the NLRB with his supporters. Liberal Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan joined all the conservative justices and Anthony Kennedy in sharply questioning the legality of Obama’s actions…
