Obama Bucked By Federal Court On Appointments!

President Barack Obama renominates Richard Cordray as the Consumer Protection Board chief!

With the Republican minority putting legal limbo on the nominations of appointees to the president's cabinet, he made a couple of recess appointments. The federal courts concluded that the president's usage of recess appointments has come under fire.

The U.S. Federal Appeals Court in the District of Columbia ruled against the president on his recess appointments. They found the appointments were unconstitutional.

The Labor Relations Board was filled last year after the president made a recess appointment when the senate wasn't in session. But due to the fact that Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) trying to keep the senate running even during holidays, the president overstepped his bounds as an executive leader. According to the court, aided by a complaint from the Landmark Legal Foundation, a conservative front group sponsored by controversial talk radio agitator Mark Levin, they've managed to get a victory against the Consumer Protection Agency.

His shadow group battles the public sector unions and labor rights groups. Landmark co-sponsored with the National Right To Work Legal Foundation to protest the president's appointments. Noel Canning v. NLRB ruled in their favor. The White House will appeal this decision and it will fast track for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The brief was filed for four workers who are receiving free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in cases pending before the Board.

Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement in light of the court's decision:

"Today, the court agreed with Foundation attorneys: Barack Obama's so-called recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board clearly violate the U.S. Constitution. Because the U.S. Senate was not in recess the President could not make the appointments to the NLRB without Senate confirmation.

"As a result, the Board has lacked a quorum since January 3, 2012, and under a U.S. Supreme Court precedent established in 2010, the court's ruling invalidates the Board's biased and decidedly pro-Big Labor rulings since that time. The court's decision in Noel Canning is a victory for independent-minded workers who have received unjust treatment at the hands of the pro-Big Labor NLRB and will hopefully serve as a persuasive example to other federal courts deciding on the validity of Obama's purported recess appointments."

This battle is far from over! The president and his legal team will take this to the Supreme Court.

The ruling also raises questions about the recess appointment of former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray to head the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and about the actions taken by the agency during his tenure, including major new rules governing the mortgage industry. Obama named Cordray at the same time as the NLRB nominees, and his appointment is the subject of a separate lawsuit in D.C. federal court.

The White House criticized the court ruling. “The decision is novel and unprecedented, and it contradicts 150 years of practice by Democratic and Republican administrations,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Friday. “We respectfully but strongly disagree with the ruling.”

Presidents from both parties have made hundreds of recess appointments when the Senate has failed to act on nominations. Ronald Reagan holds the record with 243. Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, made 105, and it was during his term that Senate Democrats began holding pro-forma sessions, some lasting less than a minute, when the Senate went on break. They contended that that kept the Senate in session and did not allow Bush to make recess appointments.

Republicans took up the practice when Obama was elected. But Obama decided to challenge it in January 2012, when the Senate was on a 20-day holiday but holding pro-forma sessions every three business days to block presidential action.