Carney Defends Cordray Recess Appointment: "Constitution Trumps Gimmicks"
White House press secretary Jay Carney says Senate Republicans gaveling in and gaveling out for seven seconds does not constitute a recess. Therefore, Carney argues, President Obama operated in a legal manner when he appointed Richard Cordray to head the consumer protection board.
"Our assessment is that Congress has been in recess, and had made every indication that it will be in recess for a sustained period of time. And that gaveling in and gaveling out for seven seconds does not constitute a recess with regard to the President's constitutional authority," Carney said at Thursday's briefing.
"Let's take the other, I guess Laura's question, somebody else says the other side, the other extreme here which is that if these gimmicks were all the Senate needed to do to prevent the president from exercising his constitutional authority -- any president -- then no president would ever be able to exercise [it]," Carney contended.
"We're saying this a gimmick versus a Constitutionally-enshrined authority and we feel very comfortable as a legal matter that the Constitution trumps gimmicks. Thanks."
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So the President gets to decide when the Senate is in session?
ReplyDeletePaul in Texas
There is a difference between being "in session" and conducting business. IIRC Congress runs on Robert's Rules of Order, and it's not that hard to look up the behavior and see if it is or is not against the rules.
ReplyDeleteInterim appointments allow the Executive branch to operate when Congress was not around, or (like Wisconsin) refused to be around to conduct business. It's not a situation where the country would come to a crashing halt if this appointment did not go through RFN.
Seems Chicago-style politics makes Obama cry when used against him. Too bad, so sad.
stay safe.