Has President Obama Violated the Constitution?

While you were following the Iowa caucus and preparing for the New Hampshire primary, you may have missed a big news story.  President Obama has made four recess appointments.  One appointment is to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three are to the Labor Relations Board.  There are plenty of stories that argue whether these individuals are or are not qualified.  Their qualifications aren’t the story.   The President made these “recess appointments” while the Senate was actually in session, making their appointment unconstitutional.

U.S. A Today has an op-ed piece defending the President’s action.   U. S. A. Today believes that the Republicans are just being obstructionists.  They argues that the Senate was “technically” in secession, but they weren’t really in session.  So while the President may have technically violated the Constitution, it doesn’t really matter.

I think this argument stretches credibility.  Presidents are allowed to make recess appointments. Many have done it, some have done it a lot.  However a President can’t make a recess appointment if the Senate is in session.  The Senate is charged with confirming Presidential appointments under the Constitution as a check and balance on the Executive branch.

The editors at U. S. A. Today are arguing that the Senate was only “a little” in session, so it’s ok for the President to make a recess appointment.  This is like being “a little” pregnant.  Either the Senate is or isn’t in session.  In this case, the Senate was in a “pro forma” session.  That means a member comes to the Senate floor, gavels in a session, waits a minute or two (or longer), then gavels the session closed.  Its a parliamentary trick that both Republicans and Democrats have used before for a number of different reasons.  However, according to the rules of the Senate, this is a “session” and affects the Senate just as any other session might.  The President has violated the U. S. Constitution.  U. S. A. Today defends this action:

But from a common-sense standpoint, you’d think there is already enough hypocrisy in Washington without pretending that an empty Senate chamber where no business is conducted is really “in session.”

Congress created the consumer protection bureau in 2010. The agency opened its doors in July. Obviously, it should have a leader. Sometimes, the government simply has to get going and do its job, no matter how badly obstructionists prefer gridlock.

While I agree that there is enough hypocrisy in Washington already, I don’t think this qualifies as such.  The amount of business that is or isn’t being done doesn’t determine whether the Senate is in session or not.  And while the editors of U. S. A. Today may agree with the President because they feel like the government is doing its job, they are wrong.  The President swore to protect and defend the Constitution.  That’s his job.  Breaking it whenever it suits him and the editors of U.S.A. Today isn’t.

America the Beautiful Day 8: The U. S. Constitution

“The happy union of these states is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of liberty throughout the world.”

-James Madison

This is how the “Father of the Constitution” referred to our governing document.  I think James Madison had it correct when he described it as a miracle.  Picture another time in our history when this same document could have been written.  The Constitution prints to around 14 pages.  Imagine how many pages it would be if it were written today.  Yet the document has provided the basic framework for our nation for over 200 years.  It has had some changes made to it, but most of the fundamentals have remained in tact.  It’s not a perfect document, no document ever written by man will be.  However, it has provided the best framework for government for any nation ever seen on the planet.

The Constitution is Sacred

I have been shocked by how much grief the Tea Party and new Republican members of Congress are taking for defending the Constitution.  To open the new 112th Congress last week, Republicans read the Constitution on the floor of the House.  We’re not talking about some 2,000 page document that no one knows what it really contains.  We’re talking about an approximately 4 page document that should be the heart of our federal government.

Michael Lind wrote at Salon to attack this return to constitutionalism.  His entire piece is a little shocking, and a lot misinformed.  For the first half, he tries to paint all current Republicans  as ex-Confederate, religious, nut jobs who think the founding fathers were demi-gods.  Then he argues that our Constitution should be re-written as often as we see fit.  If Mr. Lind were to get his wish, I wonder how he would feel if any of those rewritings decided to drop the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution isn’t a sacred religious tome.  However, it lays out the rules for how the U.S. government is  to operate.  The Constitution is what tells our government that there is to be a president,a  legislative body, and a judicial branch that are to be equal in the government as opposed to a king or some dictator.  The Constitution also lays out the Bill of Rights that protects in law the citizens of this country.  It tells us what the government has to do in order to pass a new law that affects those citizens.  In that since, it is sacred.  Dictionary.com includes  these points as definitions of the word “sacred”:

1. reverently dedicated to some person, purpose, or object: a morning hour sacred to study.
2. regarded with reverence: the sacred memory of a dead hero.
3. secured against violation, infringement, etc., as by reverence or sense of right: sacred oaths; sacred rights.
4. properly immune from violence, interference, etc., as a person or office.

I think in these cases the U. S. Constitution meets the letter of the definition.  But is the Constitution still important today?   Mr. Lind argues that England doesn’t have a written constitution, and France continually changes theirs.  Why can’t we do the same he asks?

There are two problems with this line of thought.  The first is that it assumes we would get something like our Constitution, but better, if we simply re-wrote it.  That’s not necessarily the case.  Look at the First Amendment.  In it, the Constitution protects freedom of speech and protects the freedom of the press.  If we wrote the Constitution today there is nothing that would bind the new framers to include this.  When Obamacare was passed last year, Nancy Pelosi famously said that the law had to be passed so people could see what was in the law.  What is to prevent a Republican or Democrat majority from doing something similar?   How would you like a Constitution that you had to pass to see what it said?

The second problem with Mr. Lind’s viewpoint is that it considers the Constitution just another piece of paper to be thrown away when it’s no longer convenient to follow.  The Constitution represents a contract between the federal government and the people.  The people (and the states) agree to give up some of our freedom to the government in order to have a stable government.  The Constitution binds our government to a particular set of rules for how it will operate.  Our job, as citizens, is to make sure the government follows those rules.  Simply tossing the Constitution aside when we don’t like it gives our government the power to subvert any of our freedoms whenever it decides to re-write the Constitution.

Mr. Lind is welcome to his opinion.  However, I’m not sure he could be more wrong.  The Constitution is the foundation of our government.  It should be recognized as such.

Constitution Day!

On September 17, 1887 the U.S. Constitution was adopted.  The United States is one of the youngest nations on the planet.  However, the United States has been governed by the same constitution for longer than any other nation.

Why is Constitution Day important?  For the same reasons the U.S. Constitution is important.  At it’s core, the constitution is the backbone of our rule of law.  This document can be reprinted in books small enough to carry around.  However, it has more weight, and overrides documents that are created today that are over 2,000 pages long.  Our Founding Fathers knew that they wouldn’t be able to see every challenge our nation faced.  They protected the rights that where challenged in their time (free speech, religion, firearms) but also allowed future generations the ability to change the constitution if we needed too. Judges shouldn’t read into the Constitution rights that aren’t there.  If they need to be protected in that document, we can amend it.  We have done it 27 times before.

If you take one lesson from me today on this day to celebrate this wonderful document, its this:  the constitution is still just as important today as it was over 200 years ago.  Without it, we have no protection from the tyranny of those who would bend us to their will.  With it, we have the protections to stand up to a tyrannical government, and replace its officials with those more in line with what the voters want.

Who cares if it isn’t in the Constitution??