26 Jun 2014 The Constitution Beats Barack Obama, 9-0

An amusing side note to the major Supreme Court case decided today, NLRB. v. Noel Canning, is how many people believe Noel Canning is a man.

For example, this lead paragraph in The Wire:

In a narrow ruling that preserves much of the presidential recess appointment power, the Supreme Court struck down President Obama’s 2012 recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. The court was unanimous in its judgement for Noel Canning, who challenged the president’s decision to fill vacancies on the NLRB, even though the Senate was holding “pro forma” sessions to prevent the president from using that power….

Here’s a photo of “Mr.” Noel Canning:

If you think Mr. Canning bears a remarkable resemblance to a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant, you’d be right.

The Wire is owned by Atlantic Media, which, as the owner of the Atlantic and National Journal (among other media properties), is big enough to have editors.

On the merits of the case: President Obama was trying to use his recess appointment power not to overcome the fact that the Senate was out of town and unavailable to confirm his nominees, but to overcome the fact that the Senate did not approve of his nominees. The Constitution gives no authority to the President to use the recess appointment power to bypass Senate opposition to his nominees. As such, the President’s actions were improper, and the Court was right to strike them down.

NLRB v. Noel Canning is an important case for the protection of the Constitution during an Administration that has been shameless about seizing powers belonging to the other branches of government. Fortunately, the Court saw the President’s illegal and improper maneuver for what it was, and the Constitution won, 9-0.

I commented further here.