[Sacajaweau]

http://www.brownpoliticalreview.org/tag/intersession-recess/

[Cheerio]

http://www.brownpoliticalreview.org/tag/intersession-recess/

It would appear you are spot on. Obie the destroyer of nations cannot recess appoint him since the seat is already vacant at the time Mc Connell Gavels out the old 114th Congress - but then I don't trust the Robert's SCOTUS any more than I can throw it beyond SCOTUScare and Gay Marriage.

Ascertaining the answers to these questions depends on one’s mode of constitutional interpretation. To originalists, the Recess Appointments Clause would seem to reach only those vacancies that actually arose during an intersession recess. First, since the phrase “that may happen” would be textually meaningless if construed to include all vacancies that merely exist during a recess, the clause was unlikely intended to include those recesses that arose when the Senate was in session.