On June 24, 2013, the Supreme Court also granted cert to NLRB v. Noel Canning (No. 12-1281), a
case which is a major test of the Constitution’s grant of power to the
President to name appointees temporarily to government posts when the Senate is
in recess.
The case is coming up from the D.C. Circuit, where the
D.C. Circuit ruled that President Obama’s temporary appointments to three empty
seats on the five-member NRLB (made while the Senate was on recess except for
intermittent, routine sittings), were unconstitutional, thereby nullifying
these appointments.
When the Supreme Court hears the case next term, it will
decide the two questions presented, plus one it has requested the parties to
brief: (1) if the President may make
temporary appointments to vacant posts only at the end of the Senate’s annual
sessions or also during other breaks in sessions; (2) whether the President
could fill a post that became open at any time during an annual session or only
those that became vacant in the end-of-session periods, and (3) whether the
President's recess-appointment power may be exercised when the Senate is
convening every three days in pro forma sessions.
