Supreme Court Strikes Down President’s Recess Appointments

The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 today that President Obama violated the Constitution when he appointed 3 members of the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was in session in 2012.

The Court said the Senate was not truly in recess when the President made the appointments during a three-day break in pro forma meetings of the legislative body.

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, who was Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at the time of the illegal appointments, welcomed the decision.

In January 2013 Enzi called for the resignation of the illegally-appointed members and cosponsored a bill that would prohibit the NLRB from implementing decisions and regulations during the time the board operated without a constitutionally-confirmed board.

Enzi said today’s court decision calls into question all the decisions made by the labor board while the illegally-appointed members served.