How Johnson could make Trump’s recess appointments a reality

How Johnson could make Trump’s recess appointments a reality

David Nir writes:

[A] never-invoked provision of the Constitution found in Article 2, Section 3, … says that “in Case of Disagreement between” the Senate and House “with Respect to the Time of Adjournment,” the president “may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.”

To our nation’s founders, this rule represented a considerable narrowing of executive power, since it applies to only a single issue: disputes between the two houses over adjournment. Alexander Hamilton, for instance, noted that the king could dissolve parliament for any reason, not just in the specific instance described above.

But today, the notion of the president of the United States simply sending Congress home on his say-so is one Trump and his enablers could exploit to ram through his parade of horribles. It all hinges on whether Johnson is willing to play ball.

Of course, Trump being Trump, we don’t know the actual contours of his plan. Obscurantism, after all, is baked into every autocracy. But conservative legal commentator Ed Whelan — who has been very warm toward Trump’s appointees in the past — recently laid out a likely approach.

Under this scenario, Johnson would put forth what’s known as a “concurrent resolution” that would call for both the House and the Senate to adjourn, which the House would then approve. At that point, it would no longer matter if the Senate was unable to muster a majority to go into recess. Trump would simply cite Article 2, Section 3 and direct both chambers to adjourn — perhaps for a very long time.

That would grant Trump his coveted recess, and just like that, he could name the entire Star Wars cantina to his cabinet all at once.

Whelan called the whole idea “bonkers,” but it’s telling that he directed a public plea to Johnson, begging him not to “be complicit in eviscerating the Senate’s advice-and-consent role.” [Continue reading…]

Print this post
Comments are closed.