Recess appointments

From the “that was then, this is now” department:

Back in late 2007, Senate Democrats decided they couldn’t tolerate President George W. Bush avoiding the confirmation process by making “recess” appointments to important vacancies during the holiday season.

The Constitution allows the president to temporarily fill certain vacancies if the Senate is not in session. A 1993 Justice Department brief holds that the Senate break must last at least three days before it can constitutionally be considered out of session.

So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada took the unusual and creative step of scheduling periodic “pro forma” sessions during the 2007 holiday break — during which no business was conducted — for the single purpose of thwarting the president.

President Bush, his hands tied, chose to do nothing.

Fast-forward to 2011.

President Barack Obama, frustrated that Republicans in the Senate have blocked some of his nominees, threatened to use recess appointments during the Christmas break. Senate Republicans responded by taking a page from the Democratic playbook and holding pro forma sessions every three days to ensure the upper chamber was not technically out of session. So did Mr. Obama accept this constitutional constraint, as his predecessor did? Hardly. The president this week simply plowed forward, gave the GOP senators a Bronx cheer and named three members to the National Labor Relations Board while installing the chief of his controversial new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

So now we have non-recess recess appointments.

The matter will likely end up in the courts. Good. In the meantime, it’s instructive to note that for all the criticism the GOP receives for its supposed unwillingness to compromise, it’s this president and others on the left side of the aisle who keep finding new ways to escalate the beltway’s partisan conflicts.