Yesterday
the Supreme
Court heard oral arguments in the first case that could – and
probably will – limit the President’s use of executive power. This case, Noel
Canning, seeks to overturn the use of “recess appointments” by a President.
Specifically, President Obama made appointments to the National
Labor Relations Board when the Senate was technically in session.
The NLRB then made a number of contentious decisions, one of which impacted an Oregon firm, Noel Canning. They brought suit against the NLRB, in effect saying that the Board didn’t have a legal quorum because the President’s appointments were unconstitutional.
Recess appointments have
been used frequently in recent years to appoint people who the Senate has
blocked. There is a specific clause in the
Constitution allowing for a President to make a recess appointment, but it was
designed for times when the Senate could be out of session for months at a time
because the mode of travel to Washington was horse and buggy.
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