“… Johnson would put forth what's known as a "concurrent resolution" that would call for both the House and the Senate to adjourn, which the House would then approve. At that point, it would no longer matter if the Senate was unable to muster a majority to go into recess. Trump would simply cite Article 2, Section 3 and direct both chambers to adjourn — perhaps for a very long time.
… Johnson, however, surely doesn't care about such niceties. What matters is simply whether he can get 218 votes to back him up. The only piece of potentially good news in all this is that, thanks to the anarchic House GOP caucus, Johnson has labored mightily to cobble together majorities in the past and often failed.
That task will be as tough as ever given his extremely narrow majority.
But Republicans understand very well that parliamentary maneuvering seldom matters to voters, so on this occasion, the speaker conceivably could keep his coalition together — especially considering the possibility that well-funded primary challengers could be sicced on Republicans who don’t toe the line.
That leaves only the Supreme Court, which clamped down on recess appointments once before. But that ruling came down when Barack Obama was president. The court's far-right supermajority, which has enabled Trump time and again, would likely have little problem finding a facile way to sanction such appointments with a Republican in charge.
It's still possible none of this comes to pass.
The Senate could, for instance, retain a fig-leaf version of its right to vet nominees by simply rubber-stamping Trump's picks, no matter how odious or unqualified. It looks like Thune will be able to spare three votes in the Senate, after all.
But even if a few Republican senators stand up for themselves and resist Trump's recess appointments scheme, no one should assume Mike Johnson would do the same. And if he caves, a cornerstone of our democracy will crumble with him.”
bsky.app
Talk of cutting out Dems — and GOP dissenters — is more than just idle rhetoric.
www.publicnotice.co
