A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said that Obama did not have the power to make three recess appointments last year to the National Labor Relations Board.
The unanimous decision is an embarrassing setback for the president, who made the appointments after Senate Republicans spent months blocking his choices for an agency they contended was biased in favor of unions.
Another victory for Landmark Legal Foundation! (for those who may not recall, that's Mark Levin's group)
ADDENDUM: Here's a link to Landmark's official statement...with a particularly exceptional excerpt:
Landmark was the only organization in the case to advance the argument that the President could not use the Recess Appointments Clause because, according to the specific language in the Constitution, the Recess Appointments Clause could only be used by a President in between sessions of Congress, and not during brief recesses taken by the Senate during a session of Congress. The Court agreed with Landmark that to interpret the clause as the President had would be to effectively destroy the Senate’s constitutional authority to confirm presidential appointments.
"We’re very pleased that the Court agreed with our position that no President is above the law," explained Landmark Legal Foundation President Mark R. Levin. "The Senate was meeting in pro forma sessions every three days when President Obama announced his appointments. They even conducted business during those sessions. This President doesn’t get to tear up and toss aside the Constitution just because he disagrees with the limitations it imposes on him."
