Amusing: SCOTUS Justice Scalia rips Obama a new one during Illegal Recess Appointments oral arguments…

Loving it...

Via TPM:

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.
“Let’s assume I think the text is clearly against you,” the Reagan-appointed justice told Verrilli during a lengthy back-and-forth early in the arguments, saying a president would have to “ignore the Constitution” to justify recess appointments during pro forma sessions.
Keep on reading…

Obvious: Obama's unconstitutional Labor Board appointees to ignore court ruling and Constitution...

Would you expect anything different from an Obama appointee? 

Via Washington Examiner:

Mark Gaston Pearce, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, issued the following statement in reaction to today’s DC Appeals Court decision that President Obama use of recess appointments to install three people on the NLRB last year was unconstitutional. The action renders the board without a quorum to act and potentially invalidates a year’s worth of actions and rulings by it. [...]

Pearce, in short, is indicating that the NLRB’s strategy is to act as if the court’s ruling that the appointments were unconstitutional somehow only applies only to the particular case that went before the Appeals Court and hope that the White House can get the Supreme Court to quickly review the case.

Surprise: Richard Trumka disagrees with court ruling overturning Obama pro-union Labor Board recess appointments...

Get over it dude...

Strongly disagree with reasoning and shocking decision today by the panel of Republican judges on the DC Circuit
— Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) January 25, 2013

Appeals Court unanimously rules Obama recess Labor board appointments unconstitutional...

Obama really stepped in it this time. This has far-reaching consequences...

In a case freighted with major constitutional implications, a federal appeals court on Friday overturned President Obama’s controversial recess appointments from last year, ruling he abused his powers and acted when the Senate was not actually in a recess.

The three-judge panel’s ruling is a major blow to Mr. Obama. The judges ruled that the appointments he made to the National Labor Relations Board are illegal, and hence the five-person board did not have a quorum to operate.

But the ruling has even broader constitutional significance, with the judges arguing that the president’s recess appointment powers don’t apply to “intra-session” appointments — those made when Congress has left town for a few days or weeks. They said Mr. Obama erred when he said he could claim the power to determine when he could make appointments.

“Allowing the president to define the scope of his own appointments power would eviscerate the Constitution’s separation of powers,” the judges said in their opinion.

Harry Reid Threatens GOP With 90 Recess Appointments

I am boycotting Nevada until they throw Harry Reid out of office.

(The Hill) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) threatened on Friday that he would recommend the White House make recess appointments of all 90 outstanding executive nominees if he did not receive cooperation from the GOP for confirmation through the Senate’s advise and consent function.

“If something doesn’t break here I am going to recommend to the president that he recess-appoint all of these nominees,” said Reid. “[E]very single one. It’s not as if there isn’t some way to respond to this.”

Most Republicans in the Senate remain furious with President Obama for his January recess appointments of several executive nominations — a move they say was a gross violation of the U.S. Construction.

Keep on reading…

Blocked: McConnell uses parliamentary move to block Obama recess appointments

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell dashes Obama's hope of abusing recess appointments.

Via Politico: 

And he laid out a condition to releasing his objection: “confirmation from the administration that it will respect practice and precedent on recess appointments.”

McConnell added that he needed from the White House “assurances that have been routinely given at this point with regard to recess appointments.”

Later in the day, it became clear that McConnell’s demands were not satisfied. The Senate will now convene for 10 “pro forma” sessions over the next month, where the chamber will meet for only seconds every few days just to say it’s in session, thereby preventing recess appointments from being made. A White House spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Obama's Controversial Recess Labor Board Appointee Wants No Punishment for Hiring Illegals

Labor lawyer Craig Becker's nomination for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board was blocked in February when a few Democrats joined Republicans in opposition to his appointment. Friday, President Obama gave Becker a recess appointment. A new audio uncovers Becker's position on employer sanction against hiring illegals. He opposes it and thinks it is discriminatory. Doh! The whole idea of employer sanctions is to get employers to discriminate against illegal workers in favor of legal workers.

From Breitbart:

"It's had a discriminatory effect."

Obama ratchets up partisanship: Bypasses the Senate and unilaterally install 15 nominees

This must be part of that new atmosphere Obama promised to bring to Washington.

The Politico reported:

President Barack Obama has elected to bypass the Senate and unilaterally install 15 nominees, including the controversial Craig Becker to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, a move sure to infuriate Republicans..