An Unprecedented Abuse of Presidential Power
Obama’s attempt today to “recess appoint” Richard Cordray while the Senate is not in recess is an unprecedented abuse of presidential power.
It also flies in the face of the legal analysis of an adviser he respected so much that he elevated her to the Supreme Court.
Elena Kagan wrote to the Supreme Court on April 26, 2010:
Although a President may fill such vacancies through the use of his recess appointment power … the Senate may act to foreclose this option by declining to recess for more than two or three days at a time over a lengthy period. For example, the Senate did not recess intrasession for more than three days at a time for over a year beginning in late 2007.
Obama’s attempt to “recess appoint” Cordray while the Senate is in pro forma session is especially galling in light of the disastrous structure of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the broad, unchecked powers that Cordray will wield over the United States economy.
As I discuss in Democracy Denied, this president is intent on rendering Congress irrelevant so he can radically transform America. He must be stopped.
Could you please suggest different options for holding the administration accountable?
Probably the easiest and most effective way will be for the House to omit from funding bills all of those agencies deemed to be operating unlawfully by virtue of such appointments. Those would include the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well as the NLRB to which President Obama is also scheduled to make “recess appointments” while the Senate is not in recess.
One of the problems with the new CFPB is that it gets its funding from fees, not from Congress. No congressional oversight and no power of the purse. Truly out of control government
So what? They explicitly denied funding for Lord High Emperor Obama’s various Caesars, er, “czars”, and he Stated that Congress can’t do that — never mind what the Constitution says about Congressional power. He’ll just declare the office funded, like he’s done for his “czars”.
Besides, the Senate hasn’t passed a budget since Bush was in office, yet Obama continues spending.
The Constitution is dead. We can either accept that or accept that we have some unpleasant duties to perform.
His fascist tendencies are growing by the day. No respect for our Constitution and our traditions.
Blame your Senator and Congresscritter. The House and Senate have rolled over and played lazy. They are the people elected to controll crap like this.
Amen to that.
Contrary to the modern narrative, the three branches are NOT supposed to be equal in power. The House in particular is intended by the Constitution to have at least as much power as the executive branch, and the judicial branch was intended to be the “weakest,” (with more limited functions than the other branches) but not impotent. Congress, and especially the House, has abdicated its responsibilities for some time, and is getting worse in this habit.
There are really only two practical options. First we have to keep pressure on the Republicans to make them do their job and put a stop to this crap. And in 10 months we have to vote this guy out, along with as many of his congressional cronies as we can.
Yeah, Romney sucks. Yeah, I’d love to have an actual, principled conservative to vote for who had a shot at winning. But we don’t have that, and four more years with an Obama who’s not worried about re-election would be catastrophic for this republic.
Romney won the Iowa caucus by eight votes. I guess that means he won the primary. We should cancel all the other primaries immediately and kneel down before Romney now. Don’t expect Goldman Sachs and the other cronies to thank you, however. They know us peons are irrelevant and inconsequential.
The account in politico indicates Obama plans to do the same thing with the three vacancies on the NLRB.
“Following his headline-grabbing recess appointment of Richard Cordray, President Obama announced he will make even more recess appointments: he will also appoint Sharon Block, Terence Flynn and Richard Griffin to the National Labor Relations Board. The move is in defiance of the entire Senate Republican caucus, who urged the president in a December 19th letter not to bypass the traditional nomination process.
The appointments are a bit of a gift to labor unions, who have been worried that three vacancies on the board would have crippled its powers.”
I wonder if companies could simply refuse to abide by rulings of the NRLB or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If they are taken to court, they could claim the administration has abused its power.
Why not give two of the posts to labor and then give the third seat on the NLRB to Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie or Julia Roberts to solidify the Hollywood vote?
If you’re being craven anyway, why be craven only to Big Labor? Spread it around, Mr. President. You’ll only be President once, if we’re lucky.
It seems to me that if such recess appointments are not allowed, then a minority party in the Senate has the right to unilaterally decide what federal agencies get to do their work and which ones don’t. This is essentially a veto given to the minority of one house of Congress over bills that have already been signed into law. That does not seem in line with the construction of the federal government in the Constitution.
Really? It doesn’t? And yet that’s what the Constitution says.
Maybe YOU’RE the one confused over the intent of the Constitution?
Actually, what is unconstitutional is the filibuster which prevents a majority in Congress from acting. There is nothing about it in the Constitution. These nominees have majority support. If someone is going to challenge this, they ought to think long and hard about whether they really want to do that.
Article I, section 5, clause 2: Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.
Filibuster is Constitutional. And not bad to have to put a check on the extremes of both parties.
Perhaps, but the way it has been used in the last several years is unprecedented, and could be vulnerable.
Under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution,
The Senate interpretation of this states,
According to this article, there is another problem for President Obama, his appointee and for agency.
The statutory wording seems clear and a principal question may be who has standing to assert the point.
Do you really expect this increasingly heavy-handed marxist pig to pay any attention to any of that. After hearing him today I am convinced if he thought for half a second that he could get away with it he would simply declare himself supreme leader and the constitution void.
Just a thought….Perhaps Captain Zero could appoint someone while the Senate is in session who could actually be confirmed….instead of extremist, marxist, reactionary kooks that stand no chance of being confirmed.
“Obama’s attempt today to “recess appoint” Richard Cordray while the Senate is not in recess is an unprecedented abuse of presidential power.”
Like Newt, Romney, Santorum wouldn’t do the same(or worse).
The US Constitution, which some people say is a Living Document that apparently list Health Care as a Unalienable Right, no longer matters to Americans. They could really care less. The president can do whatever he wants….
…provided he is perceived to be fun to have a beer with.
Justin–
It was the Dems who stayed in session to block Bush from making interim appointments:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-01-02-13-15-19
Oh, but that was fine and in accordance with the Constitution.
Ed Morrissey, over at Hot Air suggested that blocking Cordray’s appointment is the wrong hill to die on since the CFPB is already law and filling that office is a “necessary and proper” function of the Senate. The issue that most Republicans have is with the entire nature of the law itself, and rightly so. I have already stated here and on other forums that the CFPB serves no purpose other than “protecting” deadbeats from the consequences of not paying their bills. Still, engaging in politically damaging antics like denying hearings, thus inviting stunts like today’s, do not help acheive the goal of repealing these pointless, counterproductive laws.
It would be amusing to hear exactly which parts of the Constitution Ed is willing to cede.
Oh, and the Republicans in the Senate do not have the power to deny anyone hearings. Minority party, remember?
Barack Obama: “This is not the Elena Kagan I knew.”
Elena Kagan: “Did I write that?”
Certainly candidate Romney will be jumping all over this.
How can this govt keep spending money without a budget as required by law? How can a president make a recess appointment when there is no recess? Why have our various agencies from HHS, to EPA to ATF been allowed to run amoke and break the laws even as they write the laws, and exempt themselves? Why is our government not adhering to our constitution? Our government has become lawless, we have become a nation ruled by men, not laws as intended. Obama is becoming an imperial president, let’s hope our nation can survive his commie dictatorship. One thing we have going for us is historically communist rule has been implemented and executed by incompetent leaders and bureaucrats. Obama and his administration is no exeception.
CFRB is little more than a distraction designed to move attention away from the real culprits (government and the Fed) responsible for the financial collapse of ’08 and create the illusion that POTUS is “looking out for the folks,” i.e. the ignorant among the populace. The NLRB appointments are nothing more than sops so as to placate POTUS’ union constituency. The problem with both, however, is that these appointments were done: 1)During Senate session (even one periodic as was done by Democrats during GWB’s term in office); and 2)In direct contravention of Kagan’s legal analysis.
Given the Democrat majority in the Senate and despite the above conflicts, it is unlikely that POTUS’ actions will be blocked and/or rescinded in any way other than via the courts, by which time the ’12 election will have been concluded.
In light of this and past actions by POTUS, coupled with repeated, significant inaction by Congress to rein-in such extra-Constitutional activity, it is increasingly starting to look as though the citizenry will have to assert itself and take control of our government.
Given the clear language of CFRB, I suspect Congress will seek and get injunctive relief pending a resolution of the issue.
As for the NLRB, the first order it issues, will be challenged as having been made by a forum which lacks jurisdiction by virtue of the way it was composed.
“An Unprecedented Abuse of Presidential Power”
That seems like it has been the headline somewhere on a monthly basis since this marxist POS got elected.
I heard him saying today that he was not going to let a contrary senate get in the way of his plans. Now that he has the power to designate ‘enemies of the state’ as he sees fit I dont expect it will be long before he begins to do so. This turd must go.
I don’t see the republicans as our saviors. Republicans came up with the light bulb ban and SOPA, which will shut down the internet. McCain helped to write the bill allowing Americans to be detained. The republicans in the House voted to pass NDAA, including my congressman. I did NOT vote for him in 2010 so he could vote yes on garbage like that.
The worst part is that I said I would never allow the GOP to force me to hold my nose to vote republican again. But if I don’t, I’m basically making sure Zero is re-elected. I’m about ready to throw in the towel and move to Canada while I still can. God help this country.
Is it wrong for a man to pray for another to have a fatal brain hemorrhage for the good of the country? Or to die of a massive heart attack?
While the Senate and House have some recourse, the Lord does work in mysterious ways.
He doesn’t pick NFL teams, but surely He has the ability to deliver a small miracle for a downtrodden people slipping into dictatorship.
American has been telling God to mind His own business for several decades. This is one of many ways that we are seeing He has granted that request.
Yes, it’s wrong to pray for someone else’s death.
It’s a form of sorcery. Someone called it “imprecatory prayer” and (theologically) it’s simply a bad thing.
If you’re a believer, I’d get to praying, hard, that God forgives you for so uncharitable a thought, and for attempting to coerce God. If you’re not, or were merely being ironic, I would examine my conscience with great care.
Yes, but “deliver us from evil,” on the other hand, is a legitimate prayer.
The Emperor has no close. He can make appointments, declare war, pass massive legislation…against the will of the people and without representative consent.
He is not blocked or closed off from rule by fiat and really cares not one whit about our silly Constitution or any rules related to that trite federalism thing.
He owns his own media, his own popular culture propaganda machine and is about to gut the military. Our money has been stolen for “green” and “red” cronies to feast upon.
I don’t know what it feels like in the eye of a hurricane or in the middle of a coup…but, I CAN hear when the winds are swirling around me.
In a banana republic…at least you have bananas during the raping of your nation. We have an administration that doesn’t give a fig.
It is perhaps better to pray that God will bless us with a good government overseen by a good president, and let Him sort out the details. He is certainly wiser than we are.
Lord’s Prayer…
…and deliver us from evil.
Perhaps my prayer is too specific but generations past prayed for enemies and threats to be vanquished. This president is an enemy and a threat.
I’m not a church guy, but Thy will be done.
I will be shocked if any effective counter to this comes from the GOP leadership. Cowards all. This is because courage is sometimes fighting when you aren’t sure how it’s going to turn out.
This style of brazenness is going to being increasingly used by a generation of younger Democrats unless it dealt with. We would then have rule by poll and mob vice rule of law, and they will be quite happy with it. There is a a name for such a condition. It is called Venezuela.
And without the Tea Party, the GOP would just sit by and do nothing but moan about it.