On Wednesday, President Barack Obama made five recess appointments of dubious legality and faced tremendous backlash for a perceived circumvention of the law.
Later that evening, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer offered a strong condemnation of the move. On “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Krauthammer said this was par for the course for the Obama administration — “the end of a long string of lawless actions,” he said
“I think it’s not about the appointee or even about the agency,” Krauthammer said. “I think this is a lawless action by the president — the end of a long string of lawless actions. It’s banana republic style. The president saying I won’t let Congress stop me, actually. But it’s in Constitution that you have to have the Senate approval, the Senate — he can only make recess appointment if the Senate is in recess. It is not in recess.”
Krauthammer explained there was even legal precedent from his own administration that required the Senate to be out of session for three days, a requirement Obama didn’t meet.
“His own Justice Department argued last year before the Supreme Court that the Senate has to be out of session for three days. It has not been,” he noted.
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