Supreme Court Decision Alert - June 26, 2014

Today (June 26, 2014), the Supreme Court issued one decision, described below, of interest to the business community.

Constitutionality of Recess Appointments

National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, No. 12-1281 (described in the June 24, 2013, Docket Report)

The Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution gives "[t]he President . . . Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session." Art. II, § 2, cl. 3. Today, a five-Justice majority of the Supreme Court held that: (1) the President's recess-appointment power may be exercised during any recess—intra-session or inter-session—of sufficient length; (2) the President may use that power to fill any position that is vacant during the recess, no matter when the vacancy arose; and (3) the Senate is in session when it says it is, provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact