said we don t see any business going on, so we have decided that you are in resent when, in fact, the senate was not. under senate rules, they were still conducting business, pro forma sessions. this has gone on under both democratic and republican leadership. so what was at issue here was the white house does not get to dictate to the senate. we don t see people giving speeches on the senate floor. therefore you re not in session. therefore we ll make recess appointments. dana i think that was you i heard under your breath. i agree, but of course, if you re going to look and say when does this senate or the house appear to be in session or doing work, they never appear to be doing any work. that s exactly work. i can assure you, usually the senate floor is empty, but they are in session. pro forma is a matter of form. hold, you re all trying to speak at the same time. dana, you finish your point, and angela, you jump back in. i promise amy, you re getting back in there. go
until now between both sides that you make these appointments and the next president does the same. the justices said there s not a problem with recess appointments. there s not a problem with the pro forma sessions that the senate did. they were in recess, but they kept the senate going every three days essentially doing that to prevent recess appointments. they didn t have a problem with that either. what they had a problem with was the short time frame. it was less than ten days, they said, and that wasn t enough time for the senate to truly be in recess for the president to make those appointments. so that s how hay say he overstepped his constitutional authority. this is jeffrey toobin s dream come true. we have another one we want to talk about as well. the court handing down a key free speech case. it strikes down the massachusetts law that restricted protesting about abortion on the public sidewalks 35 feet within a buffer of an
business, could have passed system other unanimous consent agreement. the court won t let me skip some of the technical, what happened here because this session was in session during its pro forma sessions, the president made the recess appointments during a three-day recess. three days is too short a time to bring a recess within the scope of the clause, that appointments clause, so the president lacked the authority to make those appointments. so while recognizing a broad power for the president to make recess appointments, in this case it s not going to work, it s a unanimous opinion. three days was too short, so these appointments to the national labor relations board were no good. martha: shannon, thank you so much. great job digesting that quickly. i know we may have some more opinions coming, we re waiting for hobby lobby which so many people have been watching. obviously, all presidents make recess appointments, and they often do it with people that they want to appoint who h
the question was, were we in recess? and we said we were not in recess, and the president said in effect, i get to decide when you re in recess. and one of the justices made that point today. i don t think they re going to be persuaded the president, the head of the executive branch gets to determine for the legislative branch when we re in session. we know when we were in recess, we were not in recess, he decided to declare us in recess and make the appointments anyway. the democrats came up with the idea of these pro forma sessions, and then when the republicans started to do it, they objected to it. there is hypocrisy so much in washington, but i want to ask you about this. this is one example of many that we have been talking about in the news lately of presidential overreach. and the question is whether beyond this case what is perceived by some as presidential overreach really can be resolved by the courts.
the question was, were we in recess? and we said we were not in recess, and the president said in effect, i get to decide when you re in recess. and one of the justices made that point today. i don t think they re going to be persuaded the president, the head of the executive branch gets to determine for the legislative branch when we re in session. we know when we were in recess, we were not in recess, he decided to declare us in recess and make the appointments anyway. the democrats came up with the idea of these pro forma sessions, and then when the republicans started to do it, they objected to it. there is hypocrisy so much in washington, but i want to ask you about this. this is one example of many that we have been talking about in the news lately of presidential overreach. and the question is whether beyond this case what is perceived by some as presidential overreach really can be resolved by the courts.