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…

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.

We can rest easy. Obama isn't concerned about a double-dip recession.

If you were as rich as President Obama, you wouldn't have to be concerned either.

(RCP) — “I’m not concerned about a double-dip recession, I’m concerned that the fact that the recovery we’re on is not producing jobs as quickly as I wanted to happen. Prior to this month, we have seen three months of very robust job growth in the private sector. And, so we are very encouraged by that. This month, we still saw job growth in the private sector, but it slowed down,” President Obama said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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..