I can't remember.... when did I post this concept (in a lot fewer words?)
posted on
Jun 27, 2014 06:54AM
Stephen Breyer's opinion, which was joined by Anthony Kennedy, is basically a bunch of mush. And this is what the AP was referring to. This ruling, 5-4 ruling, problematic, says that the president can effectively amend the Constitution by violating it a lot of times, if Congress doesn't object vigorously enough, which is the situation we have now.
This is problematic. This is a problem, ladies and gentlemen. Again, the AP version. I want to make sure that I'm clearly understood. This stuff gets so wrapped up in legalese and you have journalists trying to translate it into layman's terms, and they never get it right, and it is not that hard to understand. We take the complex here and make it understandable. The AP says "the high court has left open the possibility that a president, with a compliant Congress, could make recess appointments in the future," and then in parentheses, whenever he wants. Compliant Congress being the key.
So the opinion written by Breyer that Anthony Kennedy agreed with basically said that the president can flood the zone with recess appointments in violation of the Constitution, and if the Senate doesn't object strenuously enough, then that alone can constitute amending the Constitution. So the Supreme Court left it open that if Obama wanted to recess appoint a bunch of people here, a bunch of people there, and if the Senate did not object strenuously, vigorously enough, then the Senate, by virtue of not fighting it, would then tantamount allow the Constitution to be amended.
Now, the reason that that's problematic is 'cause that's exactly what's happening. Obama is flooding the zone with all kinds of things that are outside the Constitution: waivers, exemptions, executive orders, executive actions. And the Supreme Court said here, in the case of recess appointments, that if nobody objects strongly enough then everything the president does, by automatic fiat, will become constitutional. It is incredible to me that the Supreme Court, one of the three branches, is willing to assign this kind of power to the executive.
So if you have a president who says, "You know, I don't like the fact the Constitution says I can't do this," and starts doing that, whatever it is, and if nobody objects and nobody tries to stop him and if he does it enough, it's just gonna assume to be the new law of the land, the new version of a constitutional amendment, and it will become permissible. That is what is in the 5-4 decision today on the sweeping lower court ruling which tried to say that the recess appointments can only occur once per year, the break between the Senate and the House, they break between sessions at the end of the year.