White House: No Plans To Pull Back on Recess Appointments Case

People with too much time on their hands know that I’ve made a cottage injustry out of addressing questions about whether new appointments to the NLRB would moot the NLRB v. Noel Canning case before the Supreme Court, involving the constitutionality of President Obama’s January 2012 recess appointment of three NLRB members.

I’ve also heard questions about whether the Administration would want to get rid of the case now that it looks like it will be able to get a full slate of confirmed Board members.  The answer, apparently, is “no.”  From today’s White House Press Briefing:

Q Now that you have this deal, do you want to see the — does the administration and the President want to see the Supreme Court weigh in on recess appointments? Or are there any considerations of asking them to dismiss that case?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I would refer you to the Department of Justice, but I would say that the question of whether any President should retain the ability that has been enjoyed by Presidents for over a century to make recess appointments is one that is still at issue. And our views on this have not changed. What the next steps are I would leave to the Justice Department to describe, but as you noted, that case is before the Supreme Court, and our position on it and the right of this President and any President going forward to make recess appointments as predecessors have for more than a century remains very strong.

Q So it sounds like you would like to see the Supreme Court continue —

MR. CARNEY: Well, again, the answer is, yes. But for specific legal questions I would refer you to Justice.

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