Scalia Rips Into Obama's 'Self Interested' Use Of Executive Power

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

SAHIL KAPUR – JANUARY 13, 2014, 12:15 PM EST

Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday tore into President Barack Obama's use of recess appointments to staff government agencies when the Senate is unofficially on recess.

During oral arguments, Scalia shot back at an argument by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli that the Constitution's recess appointments clause is ambiguous enough to validate Obama's temporary appointments.

"It's been assumed to be ambiguous by self-interested presidents," Scalia said, to "oohs" and laughs in the court room.

Scalia argued emphatically that the text of the Constitution does not permit presidents to appoint individuals to government agencies during pro forma sessions -- when the Senate technically gavels in and out to fulfill a constitutional requirement, but does not conduct any business. He suggested the power ought to be restricted to official recesses.

more

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/antonin-scalia-obama-self-interested-recess-appointments

[onehandle]

1. Antonin Scalia has the credibility of Donald Trump. nt

[JoePhilly]

2. Scalia: The Donald Trump of the Supreme Court.

I like that.

[liberalmike27]

37. Hmmmm

The Fascist says what?

[yurbud]

63. more like the brain of Sarah Palin and the ethics of Chris Christie

[Berlum]

7. "I wish." - A. Scalia (ReThug)

[edbermac]

11. Make that the credibility of Donald Duck.

[Wolf Frankula]

3. It was Perfectly OK when Monkey Bush did it.

But not when Obama does it. Your bias is showing, Tony.

Wolf

[dbackjon]

4. Impeach the Bastard

[indepat]

18. Impeach the hypocritical bastid right now since the bastid imo has perverted the sanctity of the

Supreme Court and thereby driving a stake in the heart of our Constitution: surely the founders could not have foreseen anyone going to such lengths to crap on our Republic in the manner this bastid has.

[The Wizard]

34. His presence and his partner Thomas

on the Court make it the Mediocre rather than Supreme Court. A legal bully, not a legal scholar.

[leftyohiolib]

21. monkey bush did it 171 times , regan 243 ( i believe those were the numbers i read )

[kelly1mm]

36. The senate was not in pro forma session in those instances. That is the legal question presented.

It is clear the President cannot make recess appointments when the Senate is in session. It is also clear that the President can make recess appointments when the Senate is not in session.

The issue here is that the Senate was in pro forma session, meaning it gaveled in and out daily. The President's position is that this means they are not really in session so he can make appointments. The problem with this argument is the only reason the Senate does this is to stop the President from making recess appointments. They do this (I am talking institutionally) in order to keep the peace between the different parties.

My OPINION is that the Senate should win this case. I am in favor of the legislative branch (again, as an institution) keeping more power and the executive branch (as an institution) having less power. We already have a semi-imperial Presidency and I don't think that is a good thing.

[cstanleytech]

41. If they were truly in session and not in a pretend session purely meant to prevent

recess appoints I would agree with you however they were only doing it to prevent the president from appointing people to fill vacancies they themselves refused to vote on and fill or in other words they werent doing their job.

[hughee99]

44. This is exactly what Reid did in 2007 to block * recess appointments.

DUers seem to support it back then.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2503149
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3865860

One DUer even suggested that * might issue a presidential finding that such sessions don't count because "The Bush Crime Family has no respect for the Constitution (or what's left after a compliant Congress participated in its shredding) whatsoever."

[kelly1mm]

47. Good catch - WAY to much 'my team = hell yeah!' and not enough long term thinking here

on DU many times.

[hughee99]

50. I think some are confusing the previous out of session recess appointments that other presidents

have used with the pro-forma session appointment issue that is before the court. While people are all in favor of our president getting what he wants, sometimes they don't consider that setting a precedent like this results in the next repuke getting what they want too.

[leftyohiolib]

52. a republican president will have no problem getting what he wants from dems

[hughee99]

56. According to the posts from 2007, he was blocked from his recess appointments

by Dems... using this same tactic.

[blkmusclmachine]

57. +1. It's called "bi-partisanship." We give, they take. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

[kelly1mm]

45. I agree - it is purely a institutional power play. In this case, Harry Reid, for whatever reason,

agreed with the republicans to hold pro forma sessions to block the President from making recess appointments.

My issue is that I am more fearful of an imperial President (again, institutionally) than I am of the Senate playing games. It just comes down to that for me.

[cstanleytech]

51. I didnt care for it back then either.

The fact is the senate and congress both need to pull their heads out of their butts and stop all the bs and realize that they are supposed to be working to better the country for all of us and not just their party or those who might bribe them the best with a campaign donation or who might have a cushy job waiting for them once they get out of office.

[hughee99]

27. Did * make recess appointments when the Senate was technically still in session?

I thought he made his appointments (as previous presidents had) when the senate was "officially" not in session?

[kelly1mm]

33. Actually, Bush did not make recess appointments when the Senate was in pro forma session.

That is the question presented to the SC. Recess appointments = good. Senate is in session no recess appointments. Senate is in pro forma session ???????. That is the case.

[24601]

53. My understanding is that he did not. While Presidents have made recess appointments, I don't

believe there were any while the Senate held pro forma sessions. Can you point out any?

"For example, during the last two years of the George W. Bush administration, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid prevented any further recess appointments. Bush promised not to make any during the August recess that year, but no agreement was reached for the two-week Thanksgiving break in November 2007. As a result, Reid did not allow adjournments of more than three days from then until the end of the Bush presidency by holding pro forma sessions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recess_appointment

and

"Ironically, pro forma sessions originated in 2007 as a way for Senate Democrats to prevent President George W. Bush from making recess appointments."

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-recess-appointments-supreme-court-20140111,0,7725081.story#ixzz2qJZ9DX27

[Grassy Knoll]

5. Sez the jackass who appointed Shrub. n/t

[Plucketeer]

10. Shrub was a "recess appointment"

Recess was the only school period W shone at!

[tabasco]

61. LOL!

And he was AWOL from recess.

[mountain grammy]

6. Have another calzone, Tony, because just clogging the arteries to your brain isn't enough.

[democratisphere]

8. Antonin Scalia is another great reason for suspending life time appointments...

for members of the SCOTUS.

[oldandhappy]

9. This is so funny.

Scalia has no self interest???!!!

Wonderous.

[Deep13]

12. hypocrite nt

[Helen Borg]

25. Totally nt

[LynneSin]

13. Did the guy take an 8 year nap after the Bush v Gore decision?

Bush abused that power but I guess if it's a Repuke then Scalia doesn't care.

[Swede Atlanta]

14. I believe these recess appointments would not have been needed

had the revised filibuster rules been in place.

The reason Obama used recess appointments was because all of his nominees were being filibustered by the Senate pukes.

Today he probably wouldn't have needed to use recess authority.

But if the court limits recess appointments it will also apply if the pukes ever get one of their nut cases elected to the White House.

[Iliyah]

16. Yep, if the Supreme Court - 5 conservative justices

limits and or undue Pres O's recess appointments that will set precedence for future Presidents to be limited and or can't appointment during recess appointments which would eff up GOPers to no end. Scalia is full of shit and a indication that they will not overturn this.

[freshwest]

26. True. And Scalia can't see outside the conservative bubble. Guess he's been at another luncheon

with private donors again, who told him to talk up impeachment...

It's a closed circle in which he, Thomas, Roberts and the rest of the gang cloister with while ignoring the majority of citizens who aren't in it, in all their decisions.

[BeyondGeography]

15. Thug with a robe

[rurallib]

17. Going where no oine has gone before

maybe not, but he has certainly stepped into the political arena. Supposedly verboten when on the bench.

[Tom Ripley]

19. Scalia: The Smug Thug

I really hate that bastard

[SoapBox]

20. Pure Angry Evil

And terrifying the power and position that this creep has...talk about a political agenda.

[The CCC]

22. Scalia Rips Into Obama's 'Self Interested' Use Of Executive Power

Scalia is an idiotlogue. The US Constitution allows the President to make recess appointment when the Congress isn't in session. They didn't foresee a highly partisan political party blocking all presidential appointments.

[GeorgeGist]

23. Tony the Phony keeps on trucking.

[Botany]

24. bush v Gore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore

Tony because of you and 4 other members of the SCOTUS we got:

9/11
Afghanistan
Iraq
The BP oil spill .... Dick Cheney's energy task force
The Big Branch Mine explosion
surplus into a deficit
spying
torture
Ohio 2004
Don Siegleman
a massive kill of wild run Pacific salmon
Cheney shooting a man in the face after drinking
crashing the US economy
losing 700,000 to 800,000 jobs per month

[Festivito]

28. ... which is in Scalia's self interest. Hypocritize much supreme gas bag? eom.

[COLGATE4]

46. I thought the same. As much as I despise

Scalia for multiple reasons (Bush v Gore merely being the greatest) I don't think he's wrong as to the legality of the Obama appointments now being challenged. It was in a best case scenario a stretch, but I don't see 5 Justices agreeing with the President on this one.

[awoke_in_2003]

30. I remember when he did the same to Shrub...

Oh, that's right, he never did.

[wyldwolf]

32. LOL. I almost type 'WTF?!?'

[kelly1mm]

49. When did Shrub make recess appointments when the Senate was in pro forma session? nt

[Homer Wells]

31. Scalia should just STFU

as a Supreme Court "Justice", it is his job to deal with things Judicial, and he has no business in officially commenting in things Executive. This is what the Separation of Powers in the US Constitution is all about. One would think he would be well aware of the distinction!

[onenote]

40. Is it your position that the SCOTUS has no role to play in deciding the constitutionality

of actions taken by the Executive branch? What about commenting on things "legislative"?

The answer, of course, is that the Court's role encompasses addressing "things Judicial" which includes reviewing court decisions in litigation brought challenging the constitutionality of actions taken by the other two branches of government.

[yurbud]

64. He always looks like he's one canoli away from shutting himself up permanently

[cvoogt]

35. Tony Tony Tony has done it again

no surprise here

[Doctor_J]

38. Impeach him and slappy right now

[lumpy]

43. Yes

[rocktivity]

39. If it weren't for Georgie Bush's "self-interested use of excecutive power"

Justice Antonin Scalia wouldn't BE a SUPREME court justice!


rocktivity

P.S. The Eleventh Annual "You Call This NEWS?" Awards are posted.

[reflection]

42. Give up the ghost already

Shuffle off your mortal coil, whatever euphemism you prefer. But GTFO you black-robed, black-hearted benighted bucket of warm dog vomit.

[tritsofme]

48. Obama blundered with these recess appointments

Especially since the Senate ended up going nuclear anyways.

Under the precedent set by Obama, a president could make a recess appointment when the Senate breaks for lunch.

By making such clearly unlawful recess appointments and forcing the issue before the courts, Obama has done harm to future presidents.

I expect the Supreme Court to be near unanimous in striking down these appointments, the only question is the extent that the recess power is gutted going forward.

[bucolic_frolic]

54. Tony, please cite the "pro forma" clause in the Constitution

I'm just not aware of it.

And by the way:

"According to the Congressional Research Service, President Ronald Reagan made 240 recess appointments, President George H. W. Bush made 77 recess appointments, President Bill Clinton made 139 recess appointments. President George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments, and as of January 5, 2012, President Barack Obama had made 32 recess appointments.[11]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recess_appointment

[blkmusclmachine]

55. Disgrace to the Court.

My opinion.

[bigdarryl]

58. You never heard a word from this fucker when Bush was running ruff shot for eight years

[Blue Owl]

59. Pffffft

GFY, Tony.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

60. Fuck the criminal Scalia...

I will dance at his funeral.

[olddad56]

62. Interesting, I think Scalia is guilty of 'Self Interested" use of his judical powers.

for instance the selection of an imbecile to me pResident of the United States in 2000.

[bobGandolf]

68. HERE, HERE!! n/t

[William769]

66. Welcome to DU.

But just for clarity Scalia is not a Chief Justice, John Roberts is.

[uppityperson]

67. Welcome to DU.