Just Go Outside and Play

February 19, 2016 3:24 PM

I'm sorta wishing for Obama to step up and recess-appoint if possible. Is the Senate on 'recess' or not? Mother Jones says 'yes'. The Scalia mega-thread says 'no'. Any Hill-Watchers got the facts?
posted by j_curiouser to Law & Government (4 answers total)

Best answer: The Senate is in recess (see the Washington Post here, NPR here, Obama's press secretary here).
posted by rainbowbrite at 3:59 PM on February 19, 2016

Best answer: Professor Mark Kleiman of samefacts.com has gamed out the possibility of a recess appointment, as well as whether the Senate really is in recess in a recent blog post.
posted by UrineSoakedRube at 5:03 PM on February 19, 2016 [6 favorites]

Obama and the Senate have already had this argument, and Obama lost it.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:17 PM on February 19, 2016

Best answer: On the 12th, the Senate adjourned with a series of pro forma sessions scheduled. I took that to mean that they weren't going to be in recess- but, it had a condition that if the House went into recess, so would the Senate. The House did go into recess. The scheduled pro forma sessions were going to begin on the 15th, and they're not in the Congressional Record, so it looks like the Senate is in recess for real.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:00 PM on February 19, 2016