--- title: Supreme Court Tosses Some of Obama's Recess Appointments description: The setback for President Obama is unlikely to stem the increasing political debate over the reach of executive power canonical: https://time.com/2927879/supreme-court-recess-appointments-nlrb/ author: Massimo Calabresi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-26T16:25:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:39:08.133Z article:section: Politics og:title: Supreme Court Tosses Some of Obama's Recess Appointments og:description: The setback for President Obama is unlikely to stem the increasing political debate over the reach of executive power og:url: https://time.com/2927879/supreme-court-recess-appointments-nlrb/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a312f11c14c9fd6/698698b6e53aba6cca4d345c/ap966920410480.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1466 og:image:height: 825 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Supreme Court Tosses Some of Obama's Recess Appointments twitter:description: The setback for President Obama is unlikely to stem the increasing political debate over the reach of executive power twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a312f11c14c9fd6/698698b6e53aba6cca4d345c/ap966920410480.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Supreme Court Limits Presidential Recess Appointment Powers > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3fc308e6-ecb3-4dac-9d5b-b57420b5cfb2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. Jun 26, 2014 4:25 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq on June 19, 2014, in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington D.C. President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq on June 19, 2014, in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington D.C. Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. Jun 26, 2014 4:25 PM UTC Handing a victory to those who fear the executive branch has overreached in recent years, the Supreme Court has reined in the President’s power to appoint officers of the government when Congress is in recess. Weighing competing clauses of the constitution, the justices ruled Thursday that the President cannot circumvent the framers’ requirement that he seek the Senate’s advice and consent on executive branch appointments if Senators are only formally in recess for three days. The ruling undermines hundreds of decisions made by the National Labor Relations Board in 2012 and for half of 2013, when the board comprised unconfirmed recess appointees. Those decisions will be revisited by the board that has since been confirmed by the Senate. Nominally, the ruling is a win for Republicans who have [made](http://time.com/95232/house-gop-investigations-libertarian-turning-point-or-partisan-ploy/) Obama’s use of presidential power a central plank of their mid-term election strategy. Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Republican former chair of the Senate Judiciary committee applauded “the Court’s willingness to stand up to President Obama’s flagrantly unconstitutional power grab,” while House Speaker John Boehner called the ruling a “victory for the Constitution, and against President Obama’s aggressive overreach.” In fact, over the years, Republicans presidents have used recess appointments as often as Democrats. In 2013, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service found that Ronald Reagan had made 232 recess appointments, Bill Clinton had made 139, and George W. Bush had made 171\. As of Jan. 2013, Obama had made 32\. In that light, the ultimate effect of the Court’s ruling will be a slight shift in power to Congress from the executive branch. Paradoxically, in recent years, Democrats have responded to Republican efforts to block Obama’s appointments by changing Senate rules to streamline the confirmation process. Last fall, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid forced through an ad hoc rule change effectively doing away with filibusters of all presidential appointments, except Supreme Court nominees—a dramatic move that curtailed the Senate minority’s ability to block presidential priorities. Reid said Thursday that thanks to that rule change, “today’s \[Supreme Court\] ruling will have no effect on our ability to continue ensuring that qualified nominees receive an up-or-down vote.” By any ranking, America [is one of the most free countries](http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-world#.U6wxxSSKr6w) in the world. But particularly in recent years, as the 20th century threats of Communism, Fascism and National Socialism have faded, political discourse in the U.S. has tended toward apocalyptic predictions of democracy’s overthrow. Under George W. Bush, the left [held](http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2006/06/actually-existing-fascism) that presidential signing statements threatened a fascist takeover of the country, while the right vigorously defended their use. Under Obama, the right [sees](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/25/boehner-plans-to-file-suit-against-obama-over-alleged-abuse-executive-power/) the same presidential signing statements as an unconstitutional exercise of “king-like authority” while the left decries right-wing obstructionism. The Supreme Court ruling Thursday on the fairly narrow issue of recess appointments is unlikely to placate either side’s concerns for long. House Speaker Boehner is set to bring an election-year law suit against the president next month in a self-described effort to “defend the Constitution and protect our system of government and our economy from continued executive abuse.” –with reporting by Alex Rogers/Washington ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2927879/supreme-court-recess-appointments-nlrb/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2927879/supreme-court-recess-appointments-nlrb/"},"headline":"Supreme Court Limits Presidential Recess Appointment Powers","datePublished":"2014-06-26T16:25:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:39:08.133Z","description":"The setback for President Obama is unlikely to stem the increasing political debate over the reach of executive power","url":"https://time.com/2927879/supreme-court-recess-appointments-nlrb/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Senate","Congress","Barack Obama","White House","George W. 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