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| Justice Kagan said the Obama Recess appointments are not legal. |
| 2012-01-13 |
| "President Barack Obama's decision last week to snub Congress and make a series of recess appointments while the Senate claimed it was technically in session had the legal blessing of the Justice Department, according to a formal legal opinion released Thursday. "We conclude that while Congress can prevent the president from making any recess appointments by remaining continuously in session and available to receive and act on nominations, it cannot do so by conducting pro forma sessions during a recess," the head of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, Virginia Seitz, wrote in a 23-page opinion. The general thrust of Seitz's opinion is that the Senate's pro forma sessions are no obstacle to a recess appointment because the Senate is not truly open for business during sessions that may last only minutes and can involve only a single senator. "The text of the Constitution and precedent and practice thereunder support the conclusion that the convening of periodic pro forma sessions in which no business is to be conducted does not have the legal effect of interrupting an intrasession recess otherwise long enough to qualify as a 'Recess of the Senate' under the Recess Appointments Clause," she wrote. Another awkward fact acknowledged in Seitz's opinion is that less than two years ago the Justice Department sent the Supreme Court a letter-style brief noting that "the Senate may act to foreclose [recess appointments] by declining to recess for more than two or three days at a time over a lengthy period." Seitz insisted that the letter, from then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan, didn't directly address the situation Obama faced earlier this month. I quoted this from the original article and givbe full credit to it's authors. This is an Obama Power Grab in that the effect would be that the President has the authority to decide when the Senate is or is not in session. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #5 ...their unbridled lust for power? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-01-13 13:36 |
| #4 Nothing is sacrosanct with these people. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-01-13 11:35 |
| #3 That is absolutely right. Worse, it sets a precident for future executives to do so. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-01-13 10:28 |
| #2 It's really simple. If it is a Democratic president, its okay. If it is a Republican president, its not okay, in fact civilization as we know it will cease to exist and the seas will dry up and the snail darter will become extinct |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2012-01-13 10:16 |
| #1 This is an Obama Power Grab in that the effect would be that FIFY |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-01-13 08:43 |