Tillman on Senate Termination of Presidential Recess Appointments

Seth Barrett Tillman has posted Senate Termination of Presidential Recess Appointments (Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, Vol. 2, January 2007) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

I argue that as a simple straight forward textual matter the Senate majority can terminate a presidential recess appointment by terminating their session, i.e., the session that meets following a presidential intersession recess appointment. If the president makes an intrasession recess appointment (assuming such things have any constitutional validity at all), the Senate can terminate that appointment too -- by terminating the current session, immediately reassembling, and then terminating the new session!

I do not argue that American history or the Constitution's structure support this position, nor do I feel inclined to do so, where as here, the text is reasonably clear. I do, however, marshal some policy arguments to support the textual argument, although I frankly acknowledge that these arguments should not control the meaning of a constitutional clause.

I expect one (or possibly more) interlocutor(s) will respond to this short think piece within two or three weeks after it is posted on Colloquy, an on-line journal.