U nder the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, the President and the Senate share the power to fill high-level politically appointed positions in the federal government. The Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution also empowers the President unilaterally to make a temporary appointment to such a position if it is vacant and the Senate is in recess. Such an appointment, termed a recess appointment , expires at the end of the following session of the Senate. President Barack Obama made 32 recess appointments. President Obama made four recess appointments during a three-day recess between pro forma sessions of the Senate on January 3 and January 6, 2012, a period that was generally considered too short to permit recess appointments. The recess during which the President made the appointments was part of a period of Senate absence that would otherwise have constituted an intrasession adjournment of 10 days or longer. In an opinion regarding the lawfulness of these appointments, the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice argued that "the President may determine that pro forma sessions at which no business is to be conducted do not interrupt a Senate recess for the purposes of the Recess Appointments Clause." The U.S. Supreme Court later concluded otherwise in a case regarding three of the four appointments. These three recess appointments were found by the Court to be constitutionally invalid. This report identifies recess appointments made by President Obama. The report discusses these recess appointments in the context of recess appointment authorities and practices generally, and it provides related statistics. Additional information concerning recess appointments by President George W. Bush, general recess appointment practices, and legal issues pertaining to judicial recess appointments in particular may be found in other CRS reports. Characteristics of Recess Appointments by President Obama

		Full-Time and Part-Time Positions

All of the 32 recess appointments made by President Obama were to full-time positions. During his presidency, President William J. Clinton made 139 recess appointments, 95 to full-time positions and 44 to part-time positions. President George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments, 99 to full-time positions and 72 to part-time positions. In 20 of the 32 instances in which a related nomination was submitted, the Senate subsequently confirmed the nominee to the position to which he or she had been recess appointed. With regard to the 12 remaining individuals, the nominations of 9 were subsequently withdrawn by the President, and the nominations of the 3 remaining individuals were returned to the President, under Senate rules. The table provides, for each appointment, the name of the appointee, the position to which he or she was appointed, and the date on which the appointment was announced. Entries in bold are recess appointments that were made during a recess within a session of Congress ( intrasession recess appointments). All other entries are recess appointments that were made during a recess between Congresses or between sessions of Congress ( intersession recess appointments). During periods of extended absence, the Senate used pro forma sessions to avoid recesses of more than three days. As noted above, in a June 26, 2014, opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed this question, concluding that, for purposes of the Recess Appointments Clause, "the Senate is in session when it says it is, provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact Senate business."
Under the Constitution, the President and the Senate share the power to make appointments to high-level politically appointed positions in the federal government. The Constitution also empowers the President unilaterally to make a temporary appointment to such a position if it is vacant and the Senate is in recess. Such an appointment, termed a recess appointment, expires at the end of the following session of the Senate. This report identifies recess appointments by President Barack Obama. The report discusses these appointments in the context of recess appointment authorities and practices generally, and it provides related statistics. Congressional actions to prevent recess appointments are also discussed.
President Obama made 32 recess appointments, all to full-time positions. During his presidency, President William J. Clinton made 139 recess appointments, 95 to full-time positions and 44 to part-time positions. President George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments, 99 to full-time positions and 72 to part-time positions.
Six of President Obama's recess appointments were made during recesses between Congresses or between sessions of Congress (intersession recess appointments). The remaining 26 were made during recesses within sessions of Congress (intrasession recess appointments).
In each of the 32 instances in which President Obama made a recess appointment, the individual also was nominated to the position to which he or she was appointed. In all of these cases, a related nomination to the position preceded the recess appointment. In 20 of the 32 cases, the Senate later confirmed the nominee to the position to which he or she had been recess appointed. The nominations of the 12 remaining recess appointees were either returned to, or withdrawn by, the President.
Beginning in the 110th Congress, the Senate periodically used pro forma sessions to prevent the occurrence of a recess of more than three days. There appears to have been an expectation that this scheduling would block the President from making recess appointments, based on an argument that an absence of the Senate of three days or less would not constitute a "recess" long enough to permit the use of this authority.
In January 2012, President Obama made four recess appointments during a three-day recess between pro forma sessions of the Senate on January 3 and January 6, 2012, a period that was generally considered too short to permit recess appointments. The recess during which the President made the appointments was part of a period of Senate absence that, absent the pro forma sessions, would have constituted an intrasession adjournment of 10 days or longer.
In an opinion regarding the lawfulness of these appointments, the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice argued that "the President may determine that pro forma sessions at which no business is to be conducted do not interrupt a Senate recess for the purposes of the Recess Appointments Clause." The U.S. Supreme Court later concluded otherwise in a case regarding three of the four appointments. It held that, for purposes of the Clause, "the Senate is in session when it says it is, provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact Senate business." The three recess appointments at issue were found to be constitutionally invalid.
Additional information on recess appointments may be found in other CRS reports: CRS Report RS21308, Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions, by [author name scrubbed]; and CRS Report RL33310, Recess Appointments Made by President George W. Bush, by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed].
This report will not be updated.