Sen. Mike Johanns expects the United States Supreme Court to rule President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he by-passed the Senate and appointed three people to the National Labor Relations Board.
The president argued that the Senate was using a technicality to claim it was in session when he made three recess appointments to the NLRB.
“Well, that wasn’t the case here, because Congress was conducting business,” Johanns tells Nebraska Radio Network. “That was the shocking thing about the president’s decision.”
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington ruled against President Obama. The judges questioned the constitutionality of several recess appointments used by presidents of both parties over the years. The judges agreed presidents can by-pass the normal Senate confirmation process during the recesses between formal sessions of Congress.
Johanns expects the Supreme Court to confirm the appellate court decision and rule the president violated the Constitution by making the recess appointments.
“I think the court’s going to find the Senate was conducting business during that period of time, and therefore they were not legal appointments, number one. And then, number two, any action they take while they’re not legally appointed is, I believe going to be held to be void of no force and effect whatsoever,” Johanns says.
The case in question is National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning. Canning, a soft drinks bottler, challenged the NLRB ruling that he violated the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to sign a labor contract he had allegedly agreed to by word of mouth. Canning charges the board cannot act, because the appointments made by Obama are not valid.
AUDIO: Brent Martin reports [:45]