Recess Appointments

The Tie-Breaking Vice-President (Revisited)

by Michael D. Ramsey | Feb 8, 2022 | Recess Appointments, Senate, Vice-President

Back in 2020, when Republicans had a narrow majority in the Senate, there was talk about whether the Vice President could break a tie on a Supreme Court nomination if the Senators were equally divided. Now that the issue is more immediate with a 50-50 Senate,...

Recess Appointments and Presidential Adjournments

by Michael D. Ramsey | Apr 17, 2020 | Article II, Constitution, Court Cases, Recess Appointments

At Volokh Conspiracy, Josh Blackman comments on President Trump’s suggestion that he might adjourn Congress as a way of filing vacancies for which the Senate has not confirmed a nominee. President Trump said he could adjourn Congress as a means to make recess...

Counterpoint: The Whitaker Appointment Is Unconstitutional under the Constitution’s Original Meaning

by Michael D. Ramsey | Nov 16, 2018 | Constitution, Recess Appointments

In the matter of the appointment of Matthew Whitaker as Acting Attorney General, my co-bloggers are divided: Andrew Hyman argues here that the appointment is constitutional under the Constitution’s original meaning, while Mike Rappaport argues here (relying on...

Problems in the Recess Appointments Case

by Rob Natelson | Jun 29, 2014 | Constitution, Recess Appointments

(This article originally appeared in The American Thinker.) I applaud the result of the recess appointments case and I am happy to have been cited again in a Supreme Court opinion (this time by Justice Scalia). But in several respects the case exemplifies what is...

The 10th Amendment

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

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