# NLRB v. Noel Canning **Status: stub — expand.** **Decided June 26, 2014 · 9–0.** The Supreme Court invalidated three recess appointments President Obama made to the National Labor Relations Board in January 2012, during a three-day break in which the Senate was holding **pro forma sessions**. The Court read the Recess Appointments Clause broadly in principle and narrowly in practice: intra-session recesses *can* count, and vacancies need not first *arise* during the recess — but a recess of **fewer than about ten days is presumptively too short**, and the Senate is **in session whenever it says it is**, so long as it retains the capacity to conduct business. Pro forma sessions therefore work. Justice Scalia, concurring in the judgment for four, would have gutted the clause entirely. The practical result is the one that matters in 2026: the recess-appointment power is dead as long as the Senate gavels in every three days — which it does, on the majority leader's own schedule, even against a president of his own party. See [[Recess Appointment]] and the [[Confirmation Pipeline]]. ## See also - [[Recess Appointment]] · [[Confirmation Pipeline]] · [[John Thune]]