Two days after President Obama’s January 4 recess appointments to the NLRB and the CFPB, DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) issued a 23-page opinion (not publicly released until January 12) on the legality of those appointments (the “Opinion”). Written against a backdrop of pro forma Senatorial sessions which began in 2007 in the Bush administration and continue during the current administration, the Opinion addresses two issues: (1) whether the President had authority to make recess appointments during the recess that included January 4, 2012, and (2) whether the pro forma sessions disabled him from making such recess appointments.… Continue Reading