Politics
Obama’s appointment of Cordray during recess legal – Justice dept
In December, the Senate agreed to adjourn until January 23 but to convene pro forma sessions in which no business was to be conducted every Tuesday and Friday. He made the disputed appointments on January 4.
The Senate pro forma sessions in which no business was conducted, do not “in our opinion” interrupt the recess “in a manner that would preclude the president” from acting, Seitz wrote in her January 6 opinion.
Beginning in late 2007, the Senate has frequently conducted pro forma sessions that typically last only a few seconds and that “apparently require the presence of only one senator,” Seitz wrote. Under a legal framework dating back nearly a century, recess appointments have been permitted when the Senate cannot receive communications from the president or participate as a body in confirming nominees.
In an op-ed article in the Washington Post, Edwin Meese, who served as attorney general under Republican President Ronald Reagan, and Todd Gaziano, a former Office of Legal Counsel attorney who is now a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, called Obama’s actions “a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers.”
The GOP’s unsuccessful opposition to creating the consumer watchdog agency has turned into opposition to potential nominees to lead the office. Stiff Republican opposition headed Obama off from even nominating Elizabeth Warren, the interim official who helped set up the office, to be its permanent chief.
There is GOP resistance as well to filling slots on the National Labor Relations Board that Republicans feel has become pro-labor under Obama. If Republicans keep enough slots vacant on the labor board, they can prevent it from acting at all.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
