President Obama today fired his opening salvo in an unprecedented attack on the Constitution of the United States. Regarding the impending Supreme Court ruling on the health control law, the President said, “Ultimately, I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was […]
Archive | Executive Branch
New EO on “Natural Resources Defense Preparedness”
Some corners of the internet were abuzz this weekend over a new Executive Order signed by President Obama on Friday concerning “Natural Resources Defense Preparedness.” The EO, which seeks to ensure the country has “an industrial and technological base capable of meeting national defense requirements and capable of contributing to the technological superiority of its […]
Lawsuit Challenges NLRB Recess Appointments
Business groups have already begun to take aim at President Obama’s recess appointments. As SCOTUSBlog reports, a coalition of industry groups filed a motion (and supplementary memorandum) to include a challenge to the constitutionality of President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in ongoing litigation against recently adopted “notice posting” rule. According […]
OLC Opinion on Pro Forma Sessions and Recess Appointments Published
For the past week there has been a fair amount of speculation that, because no opinion had yet been posted on its webpage, the Office of Legal Counsel either was not consulted about President Obama’s recess appointment on January 4 of Richard Cordray and three NLRB members, or that it had been consulted and said […]
Ackerman: Release the Recess Appointment Opinion
By Jonathan H. Adler on January 10, 2012 11:29 pm in Executive Branch, OLC Opinions, Recess Appointments
Yale’s Bruce Ackerman, writing in the WSJ, calls for the White House to release the legal memorandum upon which President Obama based his decision to make several recess appointments while the Senate claimed not to be in recess. As Ackerman notes, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel “traditionally served as the executive branch’s authoritative […]
McConnell on Recess Appointments and “Executive Overreach”
Today’s WSJ features an op-ed by former federal judge Michael McConnell on President Obama’s decision to grant recess appointments to Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Board and three members of the National Labor Relations Board. It is hard to imagine a plausible constitutional basis for the appointments. The president has power to […]
Preemptive Recess Appointments
One justification for President Obama’s decision to make several recess appointments this week is that the appointments were necessary to prevent partisan obstruction from disabling federal agencies from performing their duties. In the case of Richard Cordray, it was clear that Senate Republicans would block his appointment as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Board […]
Recess Appointment Round-Up
The recess appointnment claus is an “odd clause” — and perhaps even the “oddest clause of all” in the Constitution, according to BU’s Jay Wexler. However odd it may be, it’s receiving lots of attention due to the President’s decision to make four recess appointments even though the Senate maintains it had not formally recessed. Michael […]
More Recess Appointments
The Consumer Financial Protection Board was not the only beneficiary of a recess appointment today. The AP reports the President also made three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board — two Democrats and one Republican. The White House release is here.
Recess Appointment of Richard Cordray Despite Pro Forma Sessions
It is being reported that President Obama intends to recess appoint Richard Cordray to be the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau despite the fact that the Senate has been conducting pro forma sessions for the precise purpose of preventing him from making recess appointments. Under this procedure, the Senate “gavels in” briefly […]
The Latest Signing Statement
On December 23, the President signed an omnibus spending bill and issued a signing statement detailing his objections to various provisions and limitations contained in the bill. Here is coverage from The Hill and the NYT. Several of the bill’s provisions “raise constitutional concerns.” Accordingly, the President announced these provisions would be interpreted in a […]
War Powers Suit Dismissed
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 23, 2011 1:43 pm in Executive Branch, Separation of Powers, War on Terror
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton dismissed Kucinich v. Obama, a suit filed by ten members of Congress alleging that President Obama’s use of military force in Libya was unlawful as it violated the War Powers Act and lacked Congressional authorization. Judge Walton held the members of Congress lacked standing to bring […]
Rick Perry and the Imperial Governorship
Today’s WSJ has an interesting article discussing how Texas Governor Rick Perry has exercised the prerogatives of his office and increased the power of his position during his eleven years in office. Here’s a taste: By constitutional design that dates to Reconstruction, Texas has a weak governorship. In addition to the legislature, power is diffused […]
Could President Perry carry a gun?
Chris Moody attempts to analyze the issue for The Ticket. The analysis could have been improved by reading the laws of the District of Columbia. Moody describes D.C. as “a city that bans carrying firearms.” That’s not exactly correct. The D.C. Code generally prohibits carrying a firearm “without a license issued pursuant to District of […]
Natelson on the 14th Amendment and the debt ceiling
In this iVoices.org podcast, Rob Natelson explains why unilateral presidential creation of new debt is: 1. Utterly contrary to the Constitution’s structure of limiting executive power. 2. Directly contrary to the text of the 14th Amendment. President Obama, to his credit, declaimed any unilateral power to raise the debt ceiling. But many people–some of whom […]