Perhaps the most unfortunate moment for presidential authority was a comment by Justice Stephen G. Breyer that modern Senate-White House battles over nominations were a political problem, not a constitutional problem. Senators of both parties have used the Constitution’s recess appointment provisions to their own advantage in their “political fights,” Breyer said, but noted that he could not find anything in the history of the clause that would “allow the president to overcome Senate resistance” to nominees.
Background: obviously, this is about the Supreme Court reviewing the President’s abuse of the recess appointment privilege – well, admittedly, it’s about what I’m calling the President’s abuse of the recess appointment privilege. The problem for the Obama administration is that the above quote suggests that even some of the liberal members of the US Supreme Court may be agreeing with me on that. This may end up being very, very bad for the executive branch’s ability to make any recess appointments, ever again*…
Via
SCOTUSblog’s Lyle Denniston recaps today’s Recess Appointments Clause argument: http://t.co/lY89ItO6Fg
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) January 13, 2014
Moe Lane
*We will miss that power, once it’s gone. Which is why every President prior to Barack Obama didn’t push the issue; they all had the mother-wit to want to avoid a showdown in the courts. Smooth move there, Mister President.
Unlike Obama, Breyer has the mother wit to note he will still be *employed* come January 2017.
.
Mew
Those students who studied Constitutional Law under lecturer Obama at the University of Chicago should demand a refund.
It would be the most entertaining class-action lawsuit ever.
Well,we aren’t quite to the full-fledged judicial-branch-to-legislatve-branch smackdown YET, but it’s definitely moving in that direction.
What does this matter if the filibuster is gone. That was the only way Rs were blocking bad nominees.
It matters because next year we’re going to have the Senate back.
Forgot. I guess I forgot about even the idea that Dems could not be in charge of the Senate some day
This will help make up for that loss.
Meh. In that eventuality, Reid will just change the rules back…
Unless he’s foolish enough to try to change them in the waning days of the current Congress, it won’t be his decision to make should the GOP capture the Senate.
I personally am not too choked up with having our Imperial President lose some of his traditional authority. It’s safe to assume a few decades down the road another POTUS will regain all that Obama has lost.
I also happen to live in a State in which the Legislature is supreme over the Governor, as opposed to states like New York where the Governor can sometimes assume dictatorial like power.