On January 3, 2012 the President ignored the Constitution and attempted to circumvent the Senate by unilaterally making important appointments to controversial executive agencies. Although past presidents have made recess appointments, the appointments President Obama attempted to make were different. The President attempted to change the Senate’s rules and define for himself when the Senate is in session and when it is in recess.  The Supreme Court’s decision today—in which all nine justices, including President Obama’s own nominees, held that President Obama violated the Constitution—makes plain that the President’s actions were truly unprecedented and unauthorized.

Regardless of whether the President is a Democrat or a Republican, Members of Congress have a duty to support the Constitution and defend the Senate’s prerogatives. That is why I took measures to oppose President Obama’s unconstitutional recess appointments, including speaking out against these appointments at every opportunity and opposing the President’s nominees until the Senate imposed the Leahy-Thurmond rule in the summer of 2012.