| NLRB Rulings Invalidated |
| Jan-28-2013 |
| Keywords: obama, recessa appointment, illegal, unconstitutional |
In a blow to the Obama administration, a three judge appellate court on Friday ruled that President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board are unconstitutional.
The Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia said that appointments are illegal because the Senate was not officially in recess.
The president's attorneys argued that he had the authority because the Senate was in recess.
The panel of judges however saw the issue differently, saying that the appointments were not valid because the Senate was not officially in recess.
"Either the Senate is in session, or it is in the recess. If it has broken for three days within an ongoing session, it is not in 'the Recess," the panel said.
The court said the president could only fill vacancies, using the recess appointment procedure, when the Senate in an official recess break, officially deemed as the break between sessions of Congress.
"Considering the text, history and structure of the Constitution, these appointments were invalid from their inception," the panel said.
Now speculation is building that the ruling could invalidate actions taken by the NLRB in the past year.
In addition, Richard Cordray's appointment to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could be the next appointment struck down, as Cordray's appointment was made by Obama on the same day as the unconstitutional appointments to the NLRB.
Cordray's appointment had been blocked in the Senate by Republicans seeking to have the bureau run by a bipartisan commission rather than a single appointed director.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) appeared on Fox News Sunday, and spoke of the potential for having the NLRB's decisions over the past year struck down.
"In each case someone might have to challenge those rulings to make them invalid, but certainly that's what we said at the time - these people were going to be working in vain and the rulings that they come forth with were going to be challenged. That's turned out to be the case." |
|
|
Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 11:00 AM Email to a friend |
| < Back to Today's Issues |
|
 |
|
|
|
