Supreme Court limits president's power to make recess appointments

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court yesterday limited the president's power to fill high-level administration posts with temporary appointments, ruling in favor of Senate Republicans in their partisan clash with President Barack Obama.

But the justices stopped short of a more sweeping decision that would have effectively ended a president's power to make recess appointments when the Senate takes a break.

It was the high court's first case involving the Constitution's recess appointments clause and ended with a unanimous decision that Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in 2012 without Senate confirmation were illegal.

Obama had argued that the Senate was on an extended holiday break and that the brief sessions it held every three days -- what lawmakers call "pro forma" -- were a sham intended to prevent him from filling seats on the NLRB.

Rejecting that argument, Justice Stephen Breyer said in his majority opinion that the Senate is not in recess if lawmakers actually say they are in session and retain the power to conduct business.

The impact of the decision may be less important since Senate Democrats changed the rules to make it harder for the chamber's minority party -- currently the GOP -- to block Obama's nominations.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration disagreed with the ruling but "we'll honor it."

The outcome could have been worse for the White House. The lower court had gone further, ruling that the only recess recognized by the Constitution is the once-a-year break between sessions of Congress, and that only vacancies that arise during that recess could be filled.

Justice Antonin Scalia -- writing for himself, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas -- said he would have upheld that reasoning.

Republican leaders in both houses of Congress praised the court for rejecting what they described as Obama's unconstitutional power grab.