Obama Headed For A Smack Down By The Supreme Court




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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