The looming fight over recess in Washington

By Kimberly Atkins Dolan Media Newswires BOSTON, MA--Washington is looking a bit like a schoolyard, because there is about to be a big fight over recess. In this case, it's a battle over the constitutional definition of recess that is poised to head to the courts. On one side, President Barack Obama, who yesterday made four controversial recess appointments despite some Republican lawmakers' efforts to stop him by gaveling in and out of pro forma sessions over the holiday break. (It's a move Democrats used to thwart President George W. Bush a few years back as well). On the other side, Senate Republicans and business groups who say that Obama lacked the congressional authority to make the appointments. The agencies in question - the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and the National Labor Relations Board - have been political flashpoints between the White House and Congress since Obama took office. Senate Republicans, angered over the agencies' power and actions, made no bones about their willingness to block the nomination of anyone to either agency until changes were made. All these factors make a potential court battle over the president's recess appointment a juicy and almost certain proposition. But who will win? That is unclear - as is the Constitution, which doesn't define recess or specify how long one has to be for the recess appointment power to take effect. The White House said the president acted on the advice of counsel, essentially calling the pro forma sessions shams. "The President's counsel has determined that the Senate has been in recess for weeks and will be in recess for weeks," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney yesterday. "The Constitution guarantees the President the right, provides the President the right to make appointments during Senate recesses, and the President will use that authority to make this appointment." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had a different view. "This recess appointment represents a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer," McConnell said in a statement. "Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress's role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch." The next stop in the fight will undoubtedly be a courtroom. Addendum: This statement just landed in DC Dicta's inbox, and reminds us why we'll miss Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass: ''Republican's complaints about the President's decision to make this recess appointment are equivalent to objections leveled by arsonists at people who use the fire door to escape a burning building.'' Entire contents copyrighted © 2012 by The Dolan Company. Published: Thu, Jan 19, 2012