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162 U. Pa. L. Rev. Online 1 (2013-2014)

handle is hein.journals/pennumbra162 and id is 1 raw text is: CASE NOTE
THE FUTURE OF RECESS APPOINTMENTS AFTER THE
DECISION OF THE D.C. CIRCUIT IN NOEL CANNING V NLRB
JAMES M. HOBBSt
INTRODUCTION
President Obama outraged congressional Republicans in early 2012
when he used his recess appointment power to name the first Director of
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and three new mem-
bers to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).' The President made
the appointments despite pro forma Senate sessions specifically designed to
prevent him from filling the positions.2 Partisans from both sides of the
aisle immediately jumped in. Were these intrasession recess appointments
an example of the President arrogantly circumvent[ing] the American
people . . . . [in] a sharp departure from a longstanding precedent? Or
were the pro forma sessions nothing more than a gimmick created to
t Alumni & Philanthropy Chair, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Volume 162. J.D.
Candidate, 2014, University of Pennsylvania Law School; B.A., 2011, Colorado College. I would
like to thank the editors of the Law Review for their work on this piece, particularly Jessica Rice
and Bianca Nunes. All remaining errors are my own.
1 See Press Release, Office of the Press Sec'y, President Obama Announces Recess Appoint-
ments to Key Administration Posts (Jan. 4, 2012) [hereinafter Recess Appointment Press Release],
available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/o/o4/president-obama-announces-
recess -appointments -key-administration-posts. Senator Mitch McConnell called the move
unprecedented and argued that it placed the appointees in uncertain legal territory. Laura
Meckler, Obama Appoints Cordray to Lead Consumer Bureau, WALL ST. J. (Jan. 4, 2012), http://
online.wsj.com/article/SB00014240529702034710045771405521338o9784.html.
2 See Meckler, supra note 1.
3 Id. (quoting Senator McConnell).

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