Tillman, Seth Barrett (2007) Senate Termination of Presidential Recess Appointments. Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, 101. pp. 82-87.

Download (48kB)

Abstract

I argue that as a simple straight forward textual matter the Senate majority can terminate a presidential recess appointment by terminating their session, i.e., the session that meets following a presidential intersession recess appointment. If the president makes an intrasession recess appointment (assuming such things have any constitutional validity at all), the Senate can terminate that appointment too - by terminating the current session, immediately reassembling, and then terminating the new session! I do not argue that American history or the Constitution's structure support this position, nor do I feel inclined to do so, where as here, the text is reasonably clear. I do, however, marshal some policy arguments to support the textual argument, although I frankly acknowledge that these arguments should not control the meaning of a constitutional clause.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	President; Congress; House; Senate; recess; adjourn; adjournment; appoint; appointment;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Law
Item ID:	2962
Depositing User:	Seth Tillman
Date Deposited:	17 Jan 2012 17:43
Journal or Publication Title:	Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy
Publisher:	Northwestern University School of Law
Refereed:	No
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads