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The Justice Department concluded in a Jan. 6 memo to the White House counsel that the Senate's "pro forma" sessions don't actually interrupt a congressional recess.
Because they don't, the president was entitled to exercise his constitutional power to make recess appointments, the department concluded.
President Obama used that authority last week to name Richard Cordray director of the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also made additional recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.
"The Senate could remove the basis for the president's exercise of his recess appointment authority by remaining continuously in session and being available to receive and act on nominations, but it cannot do so by providing for pro forma sessions at which no business is to be conducted," says a memo from DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.
The memo was released today in response to calls for a fuller explanation of the legal basis on which the White House acted.
The question, the Justice Department says, is a practical one: During these pro forma sessions, is the Senate actually able to provide advice and consent to nominations? Obviously not, the memo says, which makes them a "recess" in name only, and not in substance.
Even so, it says, "the question is a novel one, and the substantial arguments on each side create some litigation risk for such appointments."
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The historical interpretation of a pro forma session does not allow for business of the day to be conducted. Thus, it would be impossible for Congress to approve any Presidential appointment. End of discusison.
Clause 4: Adjournment
Neither House may adjourn, without the consent of the other, for more than three days. Often, a House will hold pro forma sessions every three days; such sessions are merely held to fulfill the constitutional requirement, and not to conduct business. Furthermore, neither House may meet in any place other than that designated for both Houses (the Capitol), without the consent of the other House.
That's right, Mr. President - you do what you think is best for the country with these recess appointments. If your predecessors all did this sort of thing, then there is nothing wrong with you doing so too, esp. where you get around the roadblocks erected by Congressional Republicans, who really could care less about the welfare of the nation. Keep up the good work - those who love America are on your side.
Just vote them all out for as much as each person may of picked sides of who they want to believe none of them are worth a damn.They are the same even though they are two different parties.The main problem is most people think their rep is just fine and all the others suck.They are all self righteous hypocrites.
Amen. But we have dumb dumb label grabbing voters? Cant see or hear that Our Elections are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
What everyone is missing in this discussion is the fact that the republicans detest the concept of consumer protection, particularly in the financial sector. Many areas have remained unregulated for years and as a result, we still have lending contracts that no consumer can understand without the consultation from a battery of lawyers, payday loan operators that make big bucks off of poor people who don't know what kind of interest rates they're really getting into, and on it goes.
And our friendly republicans would rather we not be protected by such greedy moneymakers? Really?
Of course Holder approves. If obama burned the constitution, order the arrest without warrant of citizens, declared himself dictator for life .... his lap dog Holder would happily approve of it. The American people have witnessed, from Day One, that there is is nothing "just" about Holder's "Department of Injustice."
This comes after Roberto? Really? You wanna go there?
proudamericanveteran
Of course Holder approves. If obama burned the constitution, order the arrest without warrant of citizens, declared himself dictator for life .... his lap dog Holder would happily approve of it. The American people have witnessed, from Day One, that there is is nothing "just" about Holder's "Department of Injustice."
Utter nonsense.
Freaking laughable.
Obama in 2012, if only because the Right is too busy talking about burning the constitution, dictators and martial law of sorts. Oh my. I still remember when Rick Perry was the Hero of the Right. Ha. Oh my.
I guess that law professor knows his sh*tski's......Send the house and congress home prez obama and clean this mess up. Executive orders all the way to November
Beyond
Don't you think that sounds just a little bit Dictatorial? But as long as it's a Democrat NO PROBLEM!! ONE MAN ONE PARTY RULE!! Just as long as it's a DEMOCRAT.
This conversation is laughable if only because those critizing the president aren't critizing every president that came before him for the last 125 years or so.
Freaking laughable.
Obama in 2012, if only because Mitt's a Mormon and southern TeaBaggers ain't ever gonna vote for a Morman. Ha. Oh my.
Can't imagine why any black person would be a morman or vote for one, like the black dude in their commercials, read in their "holy" book what they think about anyone who is not white
Hardly surprising when you think that Obama owns the Justice Department. They are just toadies for the White House and would surely endorse his slimy underhand appointments of cronies who will do his bidding and help with the demolition of this great country
Hahahaha!!! "The demolition of this great country." Freaking laughable.
Yeah, right. The country's on the verge of being demolished. You bet.
Oh my. But how some do hate the president.
Obama in 2012, if only because he pisses folks like Noladude off to the point where they utter gibberish.
Agree with that.......OBAMA 2012
Since so many of these posts are only nominally on topic, this one might as well be, too. No, I'm not gonna try to rebury that corpse of a lie implying by extension that today's Democrats are in line with the Klan, even though the mere visuals of the person who is President should forever disqualify that concept from ever being posted. No, I'm not gonna try to comment about so many of the stock players of The ABO Repertory Drama Company strutting their hours on the keyboard only to have their words fall trippedly from their fingers, an all-too-common affliction for us all.
What I am going to note is the weirdness of the ABO Repertory Drama Company in discussing an issue so seemingly vital as a conflict between the President and the Senate. As I post this, the page-count for such a vital discussion is 5. At approximately the same same hour-count into the Michelle-Obama-Angry-Black-Woman "discussion," the page-count was 54, nearly an 11:1 discrepancy for the ad feminam attacks and responses as opposed to the ad hominem ones. It's not that I'm encouraging, to use that Nixonian phrasing, an escalation or, to use that more recent Republican phrasing, a surge on this thread, but it does seem the ABORDC might want to reassess priorities and lead by example with less waste, fraud, and abuse.
Blah, blah, blah.........much ado about nothing.
...to keep up the Shakespearean references, more than full of sound and fury with minimal significance...
Do people realize how stupid it sounds for DOJ to support Obama on anything? He's their boss ! How many people are going to tell their boss, that (he/she) are wrong, since he could just fire them?
Shocking. You mean that the Idiot-in-Chief, Obama, called the Racist-in-Chief, Eric Holder, and voila, it's legal. These folks are so transparent it is offensive beyond belief. Wonder what the Supreme Court is going to say about it.
So a "LYING GUN RUNNER" tells a LYING so-called president, "I support what you are doing, even though we both know it's WRONG." And this is news worthy how? Tell us something about the LIARS we don't know.
how is it wrong when it is law and constitutional for him to do the peoples business of appointments while the congress is in recess. know your law dont listen to other but read it and know it yourself. did you know that is the law of the land as well. hmmm probably not sheep. you should go back to grazing.
"A LYING GUN RUNNER" is a real stupid and inaccurate statement. If you put a CORPORATE RAIDER who represents the top 1% and flip flops when ever it is convenient in office, it is far worse for the country and especially for the working class.
Keep kicking them to the curb President Obama, like cur dogs who just nip at your ankles. GOOD JOB
Does anyone really think Holder would say anything that would go against Obama. Talk about a rubber stamp!
The really neat thing about these Obama appointments is that come November, they can all be just as easily un-appointed. Remember, Romney likes to fire people. These are those. Ha!
Republicans just hate it when government functions, despite their best efforts to prevent it!
romney wont be president. to many young, old and middle class feel he is not up for the job. he cant even get it to 1/2 his own part. at best only 25% of repubs think hes okay. 36 in a smaller state. those are pitiful numbers for repubs.
Obama was against recess appointments before he was for them. Look it up. The GOP used a tactic first developed and used by Harry Reid in 2007, successfully. If you can't get your way playing by the rules, change the rules. One and Done!
Simply put, it has become a historical expectation that the Righties will use fear, paranoia, and hyperbole to gain (or regain) power. GWB took this nation to war over the lies of WMD and the fear and paranoia those claims elicited in the American people.
Just watch one of the Republican debates, or read some of the right-wingnut posts on here, and you'll see it. Claims that the President is a "dictator" and has an "agenda" to make this country "socialist" or "Communist." The repeated posts and cries how the President is "disregarding the Constitution." The continuous, hyperbolic rants about how Americans will all be serfs to their government masters, and how businesses will fold by the thousands if even one more regulation to keep our water clean is imposed. The repeated (and factually groundless, even according to NRA) claims that the President is going to somehow, single-handedly, repeal the 2nd amendment and disarm the populace. The constant conspiratorial rant from the nutty John Birchers. The claims of impending fire & brimstone & eternal damnation from the Dominionists.
Look at the public Iran sabre-rattling by the Repub candidates, which actually has a good chance to take us into an early war with Iran, since the despotic leaders of that nation are even nuttier about their religion and their "reputation" than the batsh*t-crazy right wingers. Still, the war-mongering right is seeking to further inflame the controversy by publicly threatening war on another nation.
The party of "NO" is, even more so, the party of fear..."Elect us, or else America will fail/collapse/be doomed to Hell" has been their mantra for years.
yes, calling republicans "john birchers" really points out the idiocy of the statement you try to make. railing again christians...even though president obama is a christian, as well as joe biden who is catholic. the wars that obama started without even consulting congress, let alone getting approval to go to war in libya and the congo....and obama is probably going to go to war with iran if they try to block the persian gulf.....what president wouldnt protect the persian gulf though ?
yet the liberals in their myopic world view, believe "only republicans are war mongers" (i guess they think bill clinton starting wars in bosnia, kosovo, and iraq were "humanitarian operations"
the liberals also say "bush lied about WMD"....and some say he is a "war criminal". well....lets just look at the timeline and see who needs to be charged with war crimes...
in 1993 president clinton put sanctions on iraq for wmds...by 1995, according to the UN, some 500,000 iraqis had died as a result of those sanctions.....by 2000 the UN said it was 1 million had died as a result of sanctions and bombing iraqs wmd sites. if the left says "wmd" was a "lie"...then shouldnt bill clinton be charged with genocide ? ...its a valid point, yes ?
every single democrat from kerry to kennedy said, in 1998, that sadaam was "making and storing WMD"....nancy pelosi sponsored "the regime change act of 1998" ....bill clinton signed it december 1998
george w bush was governor of texas at the time.
...but i do fine it quite funny that the liberal democrats elected joe biden as vp in 2008.....joe biden started saying, in 1994 "sadaam in making and storing tons of anthrax...he used them on his own people, and he will use them again" ....joe biden said this from 1994-2003
....and then there is our secy of state who also said in 1999 "sadaam husein is a danger to the entire region and needs to be removed"
...again, george w bush was governor at the time.
funny how liberals forget these tiny details...maybe they just hate republicans so badly they are blinded by their own mistakes and lies.
MLK: "A Leader doesn't try to gain consensus, a leader has the ability to mold consensus." MLK was a leader, in very difficult times. Obama has been an abject failure in regards to Leadership, thus few, if anyone, are better off since he gained office.
yeah....the obama is the only one better off than he was four years ago.
what drugs are you taking keck.
Last time i checked repuds didnt want higher earners to lose there tax break. repubs didnt want to pay more go the clinton way. by wich we would come out of our deficit with the extra cash the country rakes in. take your head out of the sand and look at c-span. the job creators, what jobs have the repubs made (none). The only thing i saw was them taking credit for the prez. stimulas program and then after the ribbon cutting go and dog him down saying his stimulas is bad. I see alot of repubs talking but doing nothing in the same respect as mccain. "I have the solution to fix the country." but i am so patriotic that i wont tell you unless you vote me in hmmm how interest.
last time i check clinton didnt send an army to take over iraq. clinton didnt tell the UN that saddam is making weapons of mass destruction and that we must go in and invade that country. CLinton didnt say saddam was apart of 9-11. clinton didnt continue to lie to the country when no wmd's where found. President BUSH DID say it over and over and over again. saddam did have material to make a wmd, not an working or even program to make a wmd. we can all make and have material in our houses. the usa has material for making wmd but if there is no wmd and your tear a country apart to find them then what does that mean. hmmm there where non or you lied and took them.
Off point as usual. When you can't stand on your record, deflect, blame others and point fingers. Obama was elected to LEAD our country out of the Bush end of term financial near collapse. Instead, since he took office, there are 2 million more unemployed, millions more underemployed, 6 million more on the countries poverty rolls and the National debt has gone up nearly 5 trillion. He still finds time for basketball, golf and extravagant vacations. One and Done!
Dahly
In your own words you find your like a repub ignorant to what you say. your exact words obma was elected to LEAD our country out of the bush end of term fnear collapse. hmmm which means we where on the verge to collapse right. its going on 4 years and we are still here. not destroyed or our dollar useless like the rubble. so therefore under your own words the president saved the day. made the hard choices and the country or growing back from the collapse.
Also your numbers are very hmmm inflated(like fux news inflated) just way to weird. i do my work too and play sports. last time i check his vacations are payed for by himself in majority of cases. He is the president and by law must take airforce one and secret service. plus playing sports keep him healthy. last time i looked congress makes the laws kiddo. while i understand your are repeating what you see on tv from fux or hear from rush. i do expect your to just go and find the info from congress itself.
I know you couldnt do his job or even come close to wraping the complex notion of running a country. like the masses you want solutions but give no help in answers. like your repubs your answer is lower taxes on the "job creators" who made this mess with bush and got rich off 2 wars and left this country in shambles. i just have to laugh. not even your own partt feel any repubs deserve the nomination. what sthat out of 100% only at best 30% like mitt and hes the front runner. I mean none of them can even beat the president today.
Sorry, I can't argue with an brainwashed idiot.
This country needs leaders, proven problem solvers, not ideologues.
Dahly
You mean like Mittens the Corpate Raider who sucked out companies for profit and is now lying about job creation? What is it with you on the right, you like corruption and greed? Why is that and why does the right use God to cover for their greed and corruption and lying to the public? Could it be that the God they believe in is GREED? You can't make Mittens into something he is not so you are in for a rough ride. Instead of being honorable and admit you have duds for the Republican Presidential candidate, you keep knocking Obama, who has done a decent job considering all the OBSTRUCTION that has come from the right. What is wrong with you? Why is YOUR PARTY so screwed up?
Its called payback
And today the president annouces an effort for a leaner government while he adds more beaucratic agencies!! As for the DOJ what is new about their support of this President..If you don't agree with them, THEY WILL SUE YOU!! Ask AZ and AL about their bully tactics!!
Justice Dept. memo justifies Obama's recess appointments........
Really??? The justice department says it is OK??? Unbelieveable!!! Who woulda thunk the justice department would OK an Obama decision??? Could that be Eric Holder??? Ah, yes, explains everything......
Duh!