Free Republic

The appointment of former Ohio Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray did, in fact, push the edge of the constitutional envelope. But it was a rational response to an increasingly gridlocked Congress and a growing willingness among lawmakers to employ procedural tools to stop the executive branch from functioning. The legal questions raised by Cordray's appointment could ultimately upend any rules the new bureau may adopt for payday lenders and others outside the banking system. So while Obama's tactic plays well with Democrats, it may not help the people the bureau was designed to protect. Nevertheless, Republicans can't complain about Obama resorting...

Constitution: President Obama's nonrecess "recess appointments" can't be excused as over-the-top electioneering. This president has crossed over from socialistic extremism into lawlessness and, perhaps, impeachability. The U.S. Constitution established a strong presidency — so strong that even one of the most esteemed founding fathers, Patrick Henry, worried it would be kinglike. But this week saw a president exceed even those broad constitutional powers because doing so fits his election-year narrative of a "do-nothing Congress" so well. Now we have the makings of a banana republic, where the rule of clearly written constitutional law is compromised by a ruler's subjective whim....

The White House on Thursday refused to say whether lawyers at the U.S. Justice Department gave the green light to President Barack Obama's controversial appointments to two agencies but experts said the department almost certainly did provide advice. The department's Office of Legal Counsel advises the president and government agencies. In the past, it has issued guidance about the constitutionality of so-called recess appointments that are done when the Senate is away. That counsel is seen as critical to providing justification for decisions and actions by a president. It has been key on other major issues, such as the use...

What is a recess? Constitution doesn't specifyBy ALAN FRAM Associated Press Updated: Jan 05, 2012 10:32 AM EST (AP) - The Constitution lets presidents make temporary appointments while the Senate is in recess but does not specify what a recess is or how long one must last before that power can be exercised. That ambiguity, courtesy of the founding fathers, is helping fuel a battle between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over whether he had legally installed Richard Cordray on Wednesday to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with three others he named to the National Labor...

President Obama yesterday played a violent game of kickball with the US Constitution, making a number of high-level “recess” appointments — even though the Senate isn’t actually in recess. He named former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Board, a nomination Republicans have been fighting. And then he named three new members of the pro-union activist National Labor Relations Board. Presidents have the right to make temporary appointments when Congress is away from Washington, of course, and both parties have used that power. But Obama is the first president to declare that he, and he...

What happens when the president makes a recess appointment when the Senate is not technically on recess? Nobody knows. But President Barack Obama’s decision to jam the Senate and install three labor nominees and a consumer watchdog without a confirmation vote raises unsettled legal questions that could have a long-lasting impact past his presidency. “This is not a nice, clear-cut area at all,” said Robert Dove, a former Senate parliamentarian, when asked about the implications of the president’s move. Legal experts said Wednesday that there was no precedent for such recess appointments and that it would likely be put to...

It isn’t just Richard Cordray. Obama is also set to use recess appointments to install his picks to the National Labor Relations Board, according to White House officials and others familiar with ongoing discussions. The move, which is arguably as impotant as the Cordray appointment, will ratchet up opposition from Republicans and make this an even bigger fight, since they have been attacking the NLRB regularly for its moves to streamline union elections and inform workers of their rights. Obama is set to appoint Sharon Block, Terence Flynn, and Richard Griffin to the board — something unions have made a...

Senate Republicans blocked confirmation votes on two of President Obama's most high-profile nominees this week — one for a seat on a federal appeals court, the other to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Traditionally, the end-of-the-year holidays have allowed presidents to bypass Congress and give such thwarted nominees recess appointments. But an angry President Obama is quickly leaning that this might not be the case this year. Obama insisted, "I will not take any options off the table when it comes to getting Richard Cordray in as director of the consumer finance protection board." The only way the...

Republican senators on Friday forced the US Senate to stay in session over its week-long Memorial Day break in a bid to prevent President Barack Obama from nominating a controversial head of a new consumer protection bureau. Obama has the right to make so-called "recess appointments" any time the Senate breaks for four days or more. It is widely expected that the president will appoint the controversial and straight-talking Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

As the days wind down to the scheduled weeklong congressional recess to mark Memorial Day, Republicans have a choice to make. Will they merely grumble about President Obama using the break to appoint more radical nominees without Senate confirmation, or will they actually stop him? To date, Obama has made 28 recess appointments. One of them, Donald Berwick, was put in charge of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, even though he was never scheduled for a Senate confirmation hearing. If Republicans don't act, history could repeat itself next week. Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/05/gop-should-block-memorial-day-recess-appointments#ixzz1NGwYo4pq

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Monday blocked President Barack Obama's choice for the No. 2 job in the Justice Department and dampened talk that Osama bin Laden's death might usher in bipartisan cooperation on terrorism matters. The 50-40 vote, short of the Senate's required 60-vote threshold, sidelined Obama's monthslong drive to make official James M. Cole's position as deputy attorney general. ((snip)) Some saw the vote Monday, which Senate Democrats kept open for about 40 extra minutes, as an early sign of whether Republicans might give Obama the national security team he seeks. Only Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., crossed...

With a key test vote in the Senate on Monday, Democrats are playing the national security card in their push to get the No. 2 man at the Justice Department confirmed. Democrats argue that acting Deputy Attorney General James Cole, whom President Obama wants named to the post permanently, needs full congressional backing if the treasure trove of intelligence from Osama bin Laden’s killing can be fully put to use. “There’s a heightened need for him now, given all the new work that’s going to come forward,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said during a SenateJudiciary Committee hearing...

Norman Eisen was given a recess appointment as ambassador to the Czech Republic in what smells like a political payoff. Eisen was the special counsel 'tool' President Obama had call Inspector General Gerald Walpin and demand he resign. You may remember Walpin was investigating AmeriCorps and an Obama supporter at the time. Walpin refused to resign and subsequently was fired by President Obama.

Massachusetts (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday made four recess job appointments to his administration, including a new U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, postponing the need for Senate approval. Recess appointments, which have been made by presidents of both parties, allow a president to temporarily bypass the Senate confirmation process required for senior federal posts by filling vacant positions while lawmakers are on vacation.

This is huge news coming on the heels of Barack Obama’s support for the Ground Zero Mosque. He has appointed Maria del Carmen Aponte to be Ambassador to El Salvador. Three United States Senators have a hold on her nomination. Why? Because she had a longterm relationship with a top Cuban spy. She withdrew as a Clinton appointee back in the 90’s because of it. Senators questioned whether or not Aponte knew about her lover’s spying on the United States and had other serious concerns related to that relationship. How will the American public react when they learn Barack Obama...

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) -- Once again bypassing a gridlocked Senate, President Barack Obama acted Thursday to install three agency officials and a diplomat whose nominations had stalled amid election-year squabbling. In a statement released shortly after he arrived here for vacation, Obama said the partisanship left him no choice but to resort to what's called a "recess appointment". He said Americans deserve better.

Complete title: Obama's Recess-Appointed Medicare Chief Speaks at HHS Press Conference But Doesn’t Stick Around for Questions Washington (CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama’s controversial pick to run Medicare and Medicaid made his first public appearance  Tuesday since he landed the job in a recess appointment,  but he did not remain at the press conference long enough to take any questions from the news media.  Dr. Donald Berwick, the new administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who has openly advocated for a health care system that "must redistribute wealth," spoke to a crowd of about 200 people, including reporters, at...

On Tuesday, the Obama ad ministration decided to do something rather peculiar, somewhat shocking and politically fascinating: It circumvented the process by which the Senate advises and consents on executive-branch nominees. The move, which seems unprecedented in subtle but important ways, promises increased chaos in Washington -- but also hope on health care. President Obama wants a distinguished doctor named Donald Berwick to head up the office that administers Medicare and Medicaid -- two of the most expensive programs in the federal government. Ordinarily, the nomination would have gone through the process known as "confirmation," with a hearing before the...

Today, President Obama officially made Donald Berwick his recess appointment to be the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In 2008 while speaking to a British audience about why he opposes free market solutions to health care problems, Berwick essentially said we should move away from free markets and give leaders the final say. “Please don’t put your faith in market forces. It is a popular idea that Adam Smith’s invisible hand will do a better job at designing care than leaders with plans can do. I do not agree. I find little evidence anywhere that market...