The End of The Recess Appointment -- Mostly

In a decision that has major constitutional implications, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled this morning that the recess apointments made by president Obama to the National Labor Relations Board were improper and unauthorized.  As a result, all of the actions of the NLRB for the last year have been invalidated.  Further, the director of the federal consumer protection agency has also had his appointment invalidated.  The issue decided by the court was a simple one:  what is the meaning of the clause in the Constitution that allows the president to make appointments without the need for Senate confirmation during times when the Senate is in recess?  Today's ruling finds that such appointments can only be made after the Senate has adjourned sine die at the end of its term.  For many decades, presidents have use recess appointments during times when the Senate had recessed for lengthy periods such as a 1 months summer recess or a two week recess for Thanksgiving.  In the case of the NLRB appointments, however, Obama overreached his power by arguing that even though the Senate had not technically adjourned, it was not really undertaking its work so it was in a state equivalent to a recess.  The court held that the meaning of the recess clause was made clear by the way that it was interpreted by president and congresses in the first sixty years after the adoption of the Constitution.  During that time, recess appointments were limited to just the period after the end of term recess by the Senate.  The court ruled that only at such times would recess appointments be valid.  In other words, because Obama decided to make a power grab, he ended up with less power than he had before he tried the maneuver.

There was no question that the NLRB appointments were going to be invalidated.  The only question was when that would happen.  Once again, rather than trying to work with the Congress, Obama decided to just act on his own.  As a result, the entire work of the NLRB for the last year has now been invalidated.  So too, the actions of the consumer agency are now called into question. 

I have not heard any reaction to the ruling yet from the White House.  I can only imagine that Obama will attack the court.  Indeed, probably in the next few days, we will hear on MSNBC that the ruling is racist.