On the recordJanuary 31, 2012
I rise today in defense of the Constitution. I rise today to condemn the President for making appointments that are unconstitutional and illegal. Recently the President appointed members to the National Labor Relations Board and to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. He did so by saying we were in recess. This is news to us because those of us in the Senate maintain that we were never in recess. The President has usurped a power never previously taken by a President and has decided unilaterally that he gets to decide when we are in recess. These appointments are illegal and unconstitutional, and I am surprised--I am surprised--that no member of the majority party has stood to tell the President so. I am not surprised that the President has engaged in unconstitutional behavior. His health care law is brazenly unconstitutional. His war with Libya was unconstitutional. He got no congressional authority. So, for a man who once gave lip service to the Constitution, the President now has become a President who is prone to lawlessness and prone to unconstitutional behavior. Our Founders clearly intended that the President have the ability and the power to appoint advisers, but they also separated that power and gave power to the Senate to advise and consent on these high-ranking officers in government. The President has gone an end-around on this and has done something that breaks with historical precedent. It goes against the notion of checks and balances.…
