No. 12-1281
`In the Supreme Court of the United States
`
`NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, PETITIONER
`v.
`NOEL CANNING, A DIVISION OF THE NOEL CORP., ET AL.
`
`ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
`TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
`FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
`
`BRIEF FOR THE PETITIONER
`
` DONALD B. VERRILLI, JR.
`Solicitor General
`Counsel of Record
`STUART F. DELERY
`Assistant Attorney General
`EDWIN S. KNEEDLER
`Deputy Solicitor General
`BETH S. BRINKMANN
`Deputy Assistant Attorney
`General
`CURTIS E. GANNON
`Assistant to the Solicitor
`General
`DOUGLAS N. LETTER
`SCOTT R. MCINTOSH
`MELISSA N. PATTERSON
`BENJAMIN M. SHULTZ
`Attorneys
`Department of Justice
`Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
`SupremeCtBriefs@usdoj.gov
`(202) 514-2217
`
`LAFE E. SOLOMON
`Acting General Counsel
`CELESTE J. MATTINA
`Deputy General Counsel
`JOHN H. FERGUSON
`MARGERY E. LIEBER
`Associate General Counsels
`LINDA DREEBEN
`Deputy Associate General
`Counsel
`National Labor Relations
`Board
`Washington, D.C. 20670
`
`
`
`

`
`
`
`QUESTIONS PRESENTED
`The Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution
`provides that “[t]he President shall have 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. The
`questions presented are:
`1. Whether the President’s recess-appointment pow-
`er may be exercised during a recess that occurs within a
`session of the Senate, or is instead limited to recesses
`that occur between sessions of the Senate.
`2. Whether the President’s recess-appointment pow-
`er may be exercised to fill vacancies that exist during a
`recess, or is instead limited to vacancies that first arose
`during that recess.
`3. Whether the President’s recess-appointment pow-
`er may be exercised when the Senate is convening every
`three days in pro-forma sessions.
`
`
`
`(I)
`
`

`
`
`
`PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDING
`In addition to the parties named in the caption, the
`International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 760 is
`also a party to the proceeding. It was an intervenor in
`the court of appeals.
`
`
`
`(II)
`
`

`
`
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`Page
`Opinions below ................................................................................ 1
`Jurisdiction ...................................................................................... 1
`Constitutional and statutory provisions involved ...................... 1
`Statement ......................................................................................... 2
`Summary of argument ................................................................... 7
`Argument ....................................................................................... 11
`A. The President’s recess-appointment authority
`
`is not confined to inter-session recesses of the
`
`Senate ................................................................................. 12
`1. The constitutional text authorizes appointments
`during intra-session recesses .................................... 13
`2. Intra-session recess appointments are
`necessary to serve the purposes of the
`Recess Appointments Clause ................................... 19
`3. Long-standing practice supports intra-
`session recess appointments ..................................... 21
`B. The President may fill any vacancy that exists
`
`during the recess of the Senate ....................................... 28
`1. The reference to “Vacancies that may happen
`during the Recess” can be reasonably read
`as including vacancies that exist during the
`recess ............................................................................ 29
`2. The Clause’s purposes are best served by
`allowing the President to fill a vacancy that
`exists during a recess ................................................. 31
`3. Since the 1820s, the vast majority of Presi-
`dents have made recess appointments to
`fill vacancies that arose before a particular
`recess but continued to exist during that
`recess ............................................................................ 35
`4. Before 1823, there was no settled understanding
`that the President was precluded from filling
`vacancies during a recess that first arose before
`that recess began ........................................................ 38
`
`(III)
`
`

`
`IV
`
`Table of Contents—Continued: Page
`C. The Senate is in “recess” for purposes of the
` Recess Appointments Clause when, for 20 days,
`
`a Senate order provides for only fleeting,
`
`concededly “pro forma” sessions at which
`
`“no business” is to be conducted ..................................... 44
`1. The Senate is in recess when it cannot
`receive communications from the President
`or participate as a body in the appointment
`process ......................................................................... 45
`2. Despite the pro-forma sessions, the 20-day
`period at issue here bore the hallmarks of a
`recess ............................................................................ 47
`3. The mere possibility that the Senate might
`suspend its “no business” order during the
`20-day period did not prevent that period
`from constituting a recess ......................................... 52
`4. Historical practice does not support the use
`of pro-forma sessions to prevent the Presi-
`dent from making recess appointments .................. 55
`5. Even assuming the pro-forma sessions
`could satisfy the Senate’s other constitu-
`tional obligations, they impermissibly
`disrupt the balance struck by Article II .................. 59
`Conclusion ...................................................................................... 64
`Appendix A — Appointments currently known to have
` been made during intra-session
` recesses of the Senate, by appointment
` date .................................................................. 1a
`Appendix B — Illustrative recess appointments made
` to fill vacancies that pre-existed the
` recesses during which they were made .... 65a
`Appendix C — Constitutional and statutory provisions ..... 89a
`
`
`
`

`
`V
`
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`
`Cases:
`
`Page
`
`Case of the Dist. Att’y of the United States,
`7 F. Cas. 731 (E.D. Pa. 1868) (No. 3924) ........................... 36
`Evans v. Stephens, 387 F.3d 1220 (11th Cir. 2004),
`cert. denied, 544 U.S. 942 (2005) ............................. 11, 27, 36
`Farrow, In re, 3 F. 112 (C.C.N.D. Ga. 1880) ................. 36, 37
`Free Enter. Fund v. Public Co. Accounting Over-
`sight Bd., 130 S. Ct. 3138 (2010) ......................................... 34
`Gould v. United States, 19 Ct. Cl. 593 (1884) ...................... 24
`INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983) ...................................... 28
`Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989) ............ 27, 38
`Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988) ............................... 64
`Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1926) ................... 19, 63
`NLRB v. Enterprise Leasing Co. Se., 722 F.3d 609
`(4th Cir. 2013) ........................................................................ 11
`NLRB v. New Vista Nursing & Rehab., 719 F.3d 203
`(3rd Cir. 2013), petition for reh’g pending (filed
`July 1, 2013; stayed July 15, 2013) ................... 11, 13, 15, 63
`NLRB v. RELCO Locomotives, Inc., No. 12-2111,
`2013 WL 4420775 (8th Cir. Aug. 20, 2013) .......................... 4
`New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB, 130 S. Ct. 2635
`(2010) .................................................................................. 2, 58
`Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc., 514 U.S. 211 (1995) ........ 59
`Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997) ....................... 21
`The Pocket Veto Case, 279 U.S. 655 (1929) .............. 27, 38, 47
`United States v. Allocco, 305 F.2d 704 (2d Cir. 1962),
`cert. denied, 371 U.S. 964 (1963) ................................... 11, 36
`United States v. Midwest Oil Co., 236 U.S. 459 (1915) ...... 28
`United States v. Munoz-Flores, 495 U.S. 385 (1990).......... 60
`United States v. Smith, 286 U.S. 6 (1932) ............................ 51
`
`
`
`

`
`VI
`
`Cases—Continued:
`United States v. Woodley, 751 F.2d 1008 (9th Cir.
`1985) ................................................................................. 11, 36
`Wright v. United States, 302 U.S. 583 (1938) ................ 18, 47
`Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S.
`579 (1952) ............................................................................... 28
`
`Page
`
`Constitutions, statutes and rule:
`U.S. Const.:
`Art. I:
`§ 3, Cl. 5 ........................................................................ 16
`§ 4, Cl. 2 .................................................................. 17, 61
`§ 5, Cl. 4 (Adjournment Clause) ........ 10, 17, 18, 44, 59
`§ 7, Cl. 2 (Pocket Veto Clause) ...................... 17, 44, 46
`Art. II ...................................................................... 11, 12, 62
`§ 2:
`Cl. 2 (Appointments Clause) .................... 17, 62, 63
`Cl. 3 (Recess Appointments Clause) .......... passim
`§ 3 (Take Care Clause) ........................................ 19, 63
`Amend. XX, § 2 ............................................ 2, 17, 20, 48, 61
`Amend. XXV, § 4 (Presidential Inability Clause) ......... 44
`Articles of Confederation of 1781:
`Art. IX, Para. 5 .................................................................. 15
`Art. X, Para. 1 .................................................................... 15
`Pa. Const. of 1776, § 20 ........................................................... 16
`Vt. Const. of 1777, Ch. II, § XVIII ........................................ 16
`Act of Apr. 2, 1792, ch. 16, 1 Stat. 246 ................................... 40
`Act of Feb. 13, 1801, ch. 4, 2 Stat. 89:
`§ 4, 2 Stat. 89-90................................................................. 42
`§ 21, 2 Stat. 96-97 .............................................................. 42
`§§ 36-37, 2 Stat. 99-100 ..................................................... 42
`
`
`
`

`
`VII
`
`Page
`Statutes and rule—Continued:
`Act of Feb. 27, 1813, ch. 35, 2 Stat. 806................................. 43
`Act of Mar. 3, 1815, ch. 95, 3 Stat. 235 .................................. 43
`Act of Feb. 9, 1863, ch. 25, § 2, 12 Stat. 646 ......................... 37
`Act of June 22, 1870, ch. 150, 16 Stat. 162:
`§ 2, 16 Stat. 162 .................................................................. 33
`§ 19, 16 Stat. 165 ................................................................ 33
`Act of Mar. 3, 1915, ch. 83, 38 Stat. 929 ................................ 33
`Act of June 15, 1929, ch. 24, § 2, 46 Stat. 11 ......................... 34
`Act of July 11, 1940, ch. 580, 54 Stat. 751 ............................. 37
`National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ........... 2
`29 U.S.C. 153(a) ................................................................... 2
`29 U.S.C. 153(b) ................................................................... 2
`29 U.S.C. 160(e) ................................................................... 4
`29 U.S.C. 160(f(cid:3032)) ................................................................... 4
`Officer Personnel Act of 1947, ch. 512, 61 Stat. 795:
`§ 502(g), 61 Stat. 884 ......................................................... 25
`§ 505(f(cid:3032)), 61 Stat. 890 .......................................................... 25
`§ 506(g), 61 Stat. 892 ......................................................... 25
`§ 507(d), 61 Stat. 894-894 .................................................. 25
`§ 509(m), 61 Stat. 897 ........................................................ 25
`Tenure of Office Act, ch. 154, § 3, 14 Stat. 430 .................... 37
`Senate Rule IV, para. 1(a) ...................................................... 50
`
`Miscellaneous:
`72 U.S. (12 Wall.) iii (1872) ..................................................... 33
`6 Annals of Cong. 1517 (1796) ................................................ 61
`8 Annals of Cong. 2189 (1798) ................................................ 61
`9 Annals of Cong. 2417-2418 (1798) ....................................... 61
`26 Annals of Cong. 651 (1814) ................................................ 43
`
`
`
`
`

`
`VIII
`
`Page
`
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`Appointment Letter of Daniel Ullmann, Jan. 13,
`1863, Vol. 6, p. 230, Letters of Army Appointments
`1829-1945 (Entry 314), Records of the Adjutant
`General’s Office, 1762-1984, Record Group 94,
`National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. ................ 22
`Appointment Letter of James H. Ledlie, Dec. 24,
`1862, Vol. 6, p. 225, Letters of Army Appointments
`1829-1945 (Entry 314), Records of the Adjutant
`General’s Office, 1762-1984, Record Group 94,
`National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. ................ 22
`Appointment Letter of Thomas G. Stevenson, Dec.
`24, 1862, Vol. 6, p. 224, Letters of Army Appoint-
`ments 1829-1945 (Entry 314), Records of the Adju-
`tant General’s Office, 1762-1984, Record Group 94,
`National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. ................ 22
`Robert L. Beisner, Dean Acheson: A Life in the
`Cold War (2006) .................................................................... 25
`1 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of
`England (1765) ...................................................................... 14
`Steven G. Bradbury & John P. Elwood, Recess is
`canceled: President Obama should call the Senate’s
`bluff, Wash. Post, Oct. 15, 2010, at A19 ............................. 58
`1 Richard Chandler, The History and Proceedings of
`the House of Commons from the Restoration to the
`Present Time (1742) ............................................................. 14
`Sen. Tom Coburn, Holding Spending, www.coburn.
`senate.gov/public/index.cfm/holdingspending .................. 54
`9 Comp. Gen. 60 (1929) ........................................................... 34
`9 Comp. Gen. 190 (1929) ......................................................... 34
`28 Comp. Gen. 30 (1948) ......................................................... 26
`22 Comp. Treas. 530 (1916) .................................................... 33
`
`
`
`
`
`

`
`IX
`
`Page
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`5 Cong. Rec. 333 (1876) ........................................................... 61
`52 Cong. Rec. 5509 (1915) ....................................................... 33
`61 Cong. Rec. (1921):
`p. 5724 ................................................................................. 31
`p. 5737 ................................................................................. 31
`94 Cong. Rec. 10,187 (1948) .............................................. 26, 33
`95 Cong. Rec. 718 (1949) ......................................................... 33
`131 Cong. Rec. 27,686-27,689 (1985) ..................................... 57
`133 Cong. Rec. 15,445 (1987) .................................................. 55
`145 Cong. Rec. 29,915 (1999) .................................................. 57
`151 Cong. Rec. 19,417 (2005) .................................................. 53
`156 Cong. Rec.:
`p. S6990 (daily ed. Aug. 5, 2010) ...................................... 53
`p. S6995 (daily ed. Aug. 12, 2010) .................................... 53
`pp. S6996-S6999 (daily ed. Aug. 12, 2010) ...................... 53
`157 Cong. Rec.:
`p. S14 (daily ed. Jan. 5, 2011) ........................................... 50
`p. S5297 (daily ed. Aug. 5, 2011) ...................................... 52
`p. S8783 (daily ed. Dec. 17, 2011) ................................ 3, 51
`p. S8789 (daily ed. Dec. 23, 2011) .................................... 52
`158 Cong. Rec.:
`p. S3 (daily ed. Jan 6, 2012) ........................................ 48, 49
`p. S5 (daily ed. Jan. 10, 2012) ........................................... 49
`p. S7 (daily ed. Jan. 13, 2012) ........................................... 49
`p. S9 (daily ed. Jan. 17, 2012) ........................................... 49
`p. S11 (daily ed. Jan. 20, 2012) ......................................... 49
`p. S13 (daily ed. Jan. 23, 2012) ......................................... 49
`pp. S13-S48 (daily ed. Jan. 23, 2012) ............................... 49
`p. S37 (daily ed. Jan. 23, 2012) ................................... 49, 50
`p. S41 (daily ed. Jan. 23, 2012) ......................................... 49
`
`
`
`

`
`X
`
`Page
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`p. S5954 (daily ed. Aug. 2, 2012) .......................... 47, 52, 55
`p. S5955 (daily ed. Aug. 2, 2012) ................................ 55, 62
`159 Cong. Rec. S6049-S6051 (daily ed. July 30, 2013) .......... 7
`Christopher M. Davis, Cong. Res. Serv., Memoran-
`dum re: Calling Up Measures on the Senate Floor
`(2011) ...................................................................................... 54
`4 The Debates in the Several State Conventions on
`the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Jonathan
`Elliot ed., 2d ed. 1836) .......................................................... 19
`Stephen Dinan, Congress Puts Obama Recess Power
`to the Test, Wash. Times, Apr. 2, 2012, at A3 ................... 58
`2 A Documentary History of the English Colonies in
`North America (Peter Force ed., 1839) ............................ 15
`20 Early State Papers of New Hampshire (Albert
`Stillman Batchellor ed., 1891) ............................................. 16
`John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher, Civil War High
`Commands (2001) ................................................................. 22
`Exec. Doc. No. 29, 39th Cong., 3d Sess. (1863) ................... 23
`Monroe H. Fabian, Joseph Wright: American Artist
`1756-1793 (1985) .................................................................... 39
`Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of
`Federal Judges, entry for John Archibald Camp-
`bell, available from www.fjc.gov/public/home.
`nsf/hisj .................................................................................... 35
`The Federalist No. 67 (Alexander Hamilton) (Jacob
`E. Cooke ed., 1961) ................................................... 19, 62, 64
`The Federalist No. 77 (Alexander Hamilton) (Jacob
`E. Cooke ed., 1961) ............................................................... 56
`
`
`
`
`
`

`
`XI
`
`Page
`
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`Memorandum from Fred F. Fielding, Counsel to the
`President, to M.B. Oglesby, Jr., Assistant to the
`President, Dec. 17, 1985, www.(cid:3)reagan.utexas.
`edu/roberts/Box47JGRRecessAppointments8.pdf .......... 57
`Memorandum for the Files from Max L. Frieders-
`dorf & Fred F. Fielding, Oct. 17, 1985, www.(cid:3)
`reagan.utexas.edu/roberts/Box47JGRRecess
`Appointments8.pdf ............................................................... 57
`Martin B. Gold, Senate Procedure & Practice
`(2d ed. 2008) ........................................................................... 54
`Neal Goldfarb, The Recess Appointments Clause
`(Part 1), LAWnLinguistics.com, Feb. 19, 2013,
`http://lawnlinguistics.com/2013/02/19/the-recess-
`appointments-clause-part-1 ................................................ 18
`3 H.L. Jour. 61 (1620) .............................................................. 14
`33 H.L. Jour. 464 (Nov. 26, 1772) .......................................... 14
`H.R. Con. Res. No. 225, 109th Cong. (July 28, 2005) ......... 52
`H.R. Doc. No. 11-157, John V. Sullivan, Constitution,
`Jefferson’s Manual & Rules of the House of Repre-
`sentatives (2011) ................................................................... 53
`Edward A. Hartnett, Recess Appointments of Article
`III Judges: Three Constitutional Questions,
`26 Cardozo L. Rev. 377 (2005) ................................ 24, 42, 43
`Michael Herz, Abandoning Recess Appointments?:
`A Comment on Harnett (and Others), 26 Cardozo
`L. Rev. 443 (2005) ................................................................. 32
`Henry B. Hogue, Cong. Research Serv., Memoran-
`dum re: Intrasession Recess Appointments (Apr.
`23, 2004) ................................................................................. 21
`27 J. Continental Cong. 1774-1789 (Gaillard Hunt
`ed., 1928) ................................................................................ 18
`Thomas Jefferson, A Manual of Parliamentary
`Practice (2d ed. 1812) ......................................... 12, 14, 15, 48
`
`
`
`

`
`XII
`
`Page
`
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Lan-
`guage (1755):
`Vol. 1 ................................................................................... 29
`Vol. 2 ............................................................................. 13, 30
`Journal of the Massachusetts Senate, entries for
`July 11 and October 18, 1783 (on file with the
`Massachusetts State Archives) ........................................... 16
`Letter from the Solicitor General to the Court, New
`Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB, 130 S. Ct. 2635
`(filed Apr. 26, 2010) (No. 08-1457) ................................ 58, 59
`Lewis Schwellenbach Dies at 53, N.Y. Times,
`June 11, 1948 ......................................................................... 32
`Brian McGinty, Lincoln and the Court (2008) .................... 35
`N.J. Legis. Council Journal:
`5th Sess., 1st Sitting (1781) .............................................. 16
`5th Sess., 2d Sitting (1781) ............................................... 16
`New Permanent Career Officers Selected for Army
`and Air Force, Army & Navy Journal, Oct. 11,
`1947, at 146 ............................................................................ 26
`Officer Procurement Program, Army & Navy Jour-
`nal, Nov. 22, 1947, at 300...................................................... 26
`1 Op. Att’y Gen. 631 (1823) ......................................... 30, 31, 32
`2 Op. Att’y Gen. 525 (1832) ..................................................... 35
`3 Op. Att’y Gen. 673 (1841) ..................................................... 35
`4 Op. Att’y Gen. 523 (1846) ..................................................... 35
`10 Op. Att’y Gen. 356 (1862) ................................................... 35
`12 Op. Att’y Gen. 449 (1868) ................................................... 24
`12 Op. Att’y Gen. 455 (1868) ................................................... 24
`12 Op. Att’y Gen. 469 (1868) ................................................... 24
`16 Op. Att’y Gen. 522 (1880) ............................................. 36, 37
`17 Op. Att’y Gen. 521 (1883) ................................................... 36
`
`
`
`

`
`XIII
`
`Page
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`23 Op. Att’y Gen. 599 (1901) ................................................... 23
`26 Op. Att’y Gen. 234 (1907) ................................................... 36
`30 Op. Att’y Gen. 314 (1914) ................................................... 36
`33 Op. Att’y Gen. 20 (1921) ................................... 18, 24, 25, 46
`41 Op. Att’y Gen. 463 (1960) ............................................. 36, 37
`3 Op. O.L.C. 314 (1979) ........................................................... 36
`6 Op. O.L.C. 585 (1982) ..................................................... 27, 36
`10 Op. O.L.C. 108 (1986) ......................................................... 31
`13 Op. O.L.C. 271 (1989) ......................................................... 36
`16 Op. O.L.C. 15 (1992) ........................................................... 18
`20 Op. O.L.C. 124 (1996) ................................................... 27, 36
`Lawfulness of Recess Appointments During a Re-
`cess of the Senate Notwithstanding Periodic Pro
`Forma Sessions, 36 Op. O.L.C. __ (Jan. 6, 2012),
`www.(cid:3)justice.gov/olc/2012/pro-forma-sessions-
`opinion.pdf ....................................................... 3, 27, 46, 56, 69
`Only Necessary Appointments, N.Y. Times,
`Dec. 21, 1897 .......................................................................... 23
`Oxford English Dictionary (2d ed. 1989):
`Vol. 1 ................................................................................... 17
`Vol. 6 ................................................................................... 29
`Vol. 13 ............................................................... 13, 14, 18, 49
`Vol. 17 ................................................................................. 16
`Vol. 19 ................................................................................. 30
`Oxford English Dictionary (3d ed. June 2007),
`www.oed.com/view/Entry/238153 ....................................... 47
`23 The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (Harold C.
`Syrett ed., 1976) .............................................................. 40, 41
`
`
`
`
`
`

`
`XIV
`
`Page
`
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`The Papers of Thomas Jefferson:
`Vol. 17, Jefferson’s Opinion on the Constitutional-
`ity of the Residence Bill (July 15, 1790) (Julian
`P. Boyd ed., 1965) ........................................................ 60
`Vol. 24, Edmund Randolph’s Opinion on Recess
`Appointments (July 7, 1792) (John Catanzariti
`ed., 1990) ....................................................................... 39
`Vol. 27, Letter from Jefferson to George Wash-
`ington (Oct. 3, 1793) (John Catanzariti ed.,
`1997) .............................................................................. 39
`Vol. 33, Letter from Levi Lincoln to Jefferson
`(Apr. 9, 1801) (Barbara B. Oberg ed., 2006) ............ 41
`Vol. 36 (Barbara B. Oberg ed., 2009):
`To the Senate: Interim Appointments .................... 42
`Letter from Jefferson to Wilson Cary Nicho-
`las (Jan. 26, 1802) ....................................... 29, 41, 42
`Letter from William A. Pile to C.W. Foster, Jan. 7,
`1864, Letters Received by the Commission Branch
`of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1863-1870 (Na-
`tional Archives Microform Publication M1064, roll
`48, file P399), Record Group 94, National Archives
`Building, Washington, D.C. ................................................ 22
`The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D.
`Roosevelt, 1943 (Samuel I. Roseman ed., 1950) ................ 25
`Recess Appointments, Wash. Post, July 7, 1880, at 1 ........ 36
`The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (Max
`Farrand ed., rev. ed. 1966):
`Vol. 2 ................................................................................... 15
`Vol. 3 ................................................................................... 15
`S. Doc. No. 28, 101st Cong., 2d Sess., Riddick’s Sen-
`ate Procedure: Precedents and Practices
`(1992) .............................................................. 24, 50, 51, 53, 60
`
`
`
`

`
`XV
`
`Page
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`S. Exec. Journal, 2d Cong., 2d Sess. (1792) ......................... 38
`S. Exec. Journal, 3d Cong., 1st Sess. (1793) ........................ 40
`S. Exec. Journal, 4th Cong., 2d Sess. (1796) ........................ 40
`S. Exec. Journal, 7th Cong.:
`1st Sess. (1802) .................................................................. 41
`2d Sess. (1802) ................................................................... 38
`S. Exec. Journal, 14th Cong., 1st Sess. (1816) ..................... 43
`S. Exec. Journal, 37th Cong., 3d Sess. (1863) ...................... 23
`S. Journal, 13th Cong., 3d Sess. (1815) ................................. 43
`S. Pub. 112-12, Official Congressional Directory,
`112th Congress (2011), www.gpo.gov/fdsys/
`pkg/CDIR-2011-12-01/pdf/CDIR-2011-12-
`01.pdf .............................................................. passim
`S. Rep. No. 4389, 58th Cong., 3d Sess.
`(1905) .................................................................... 24, 45, 46, 49
`Senate Pro Forma Session, Jan. 6, 2012, C-SPAN,
`www.c-spanvideo.org/program/303538-1 .......................... 49
`Thomas Sheridan, A General Dictionary of the
`English Language (1780) .................................................... 13
`Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau, Federal Courts in the
`Early Republic: Kentucky 1789-1816 (1978) ................... 40
`U.S. Dep’t of State, Calendar of the Miscellaneous
`Letters Received By The Department of State
`(1897) ...................................................................................... 40
`U.S. Marshals Service, State-by-State Chronological
`Listing of United States Marshals: Washington,
`D.C., available from www.usmarshals.gov/
`readingroom/us_marshals/ .................................................. 41
`Noah Webster:
`A Compendious Dictionary of the English Lan-
`guage (1806) ................................................................. 29
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`

`
`XVI
`
`Page
`
`Miscellaneous—Continued:
`An American Dictionary of the English Lan-
`guage (1828):
`Vol. 1 ........................................................................ 29
`Vol. 2 ............................................................ 13, 30, 49
`8 The Works of John Adams (Charles Francis
`Adams ed., 1853):
`Letter from Adams to James McHenry
`(Apr. 16, 1799) .............................................................. 41
`Letter from Adams to James McHenry
`(May 16, 1799) .............................................................. 41
`
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`

`
`
`In the Supreme Court of the United States
`
`No. 12-1281
`NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, PETITIONER
`v.
`NOEL CANNING, A DIVISION OF THE NOEL CORP., ET AL.
`
`
`
`ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
`TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
`FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
`
`BRIEF FOR THE PETITIONER
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`OPINIONS BELOW
`The opinion of the court of appeals (Pet. App. 1a-55a)
`is reported at 705 F.3d 490. The decisions and orders of
`the National Labor Relations Board (Pet. App. 56a-63a)
`and the administrative law judge (Pet. App. 63a-90a) are
`reported at 358 NLRB No. 4.
`JURISDICTION
`The judgment of the court of appeals was entered on
`January 25, 2013. The petition for a writ of certiorari
`was filed on April 25, 2013, and granted on June 24, 2013.
`The jurisdiction of this Court rests on 28 U.S.C. 1254(1).
`CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY
`PROVISIONS INVOLVED
`The Recess Appointments Clause (Art. II, § 2, Cl. 3)
`provides: “The President shall have Power to fill up all
`Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the
`
`(1)
`
`

`
`2
`
`Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at
`the End of their next Session.” Other pertinent constitu-
`tional and statutory provisions are reproduced in an
`appendix to this brief. App., infra, 90a-96a.
`STATEMENT
`1. The National Labor Relations Board administers
`the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.
`The Board consists of five members who serve five-year
`terms and are appointed by the President with the ad-
`vice and consent of the Senate. 29 U.S.C. 153(a). Three
`members constitute a quorum, 29 U.S.C. 153(b), and
`when three positions on the Board become vacant, it
`cannot adjudicate cases involving alleged unfair labor
`practices, see New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB, 130
`S. Ct. 2635, 2640-2645 (2010).
`In August 2011, the Board’s membership fell to three
`members, one of whom had been appointed by the Presi-
`dent during a 2010 recess of the Senate. Because that
`member’s long-pending nomination was withdrawn after
`Senate inaction, it was understood that his term would
`expire at the end of the First Session of the 112th Con-
`gress. Pet. 3; Pet. App. 15a. That session ended at noon
`on January 3, 2012, when the Second Session began by
`operation of Section 2 of the Twentieth Amendment. See
`Pet. 3-4 & n.2.
`Approximately two weeks earlier, the Senate had ad-
`journed pursuant to an order adopted by unanimous
`consent. Pet. App. 91a-92a. That order provided that
`the Senate would reconvene “for pro forma sessions
`only, with no business conducted,” on four dates between
`December 17 and the First Session’s end on January 3.
`Id. at 91a. Each “pro forma session” was to be followed
`immediately by another adjournment. Ibid. The Sen-
`ate’s order further provided that after the Second Ses-
`
`
`

`
`3
`
`sion of the 112th Congress commenced at noon on Janu-
`ary 3, the Senate would again adjourn, reconvening only
`for pro-forma sessions, “with no business conducted,” on
`five specified dates from January 6 to January 20. Ibid.
`Once again, the order provided that each pro-forma ses-
`sion would be followed immediately by another adjourn-
`ment. Ibid. The order further provided t