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Opinion


HOW A LONG-AGO FIGHT OVER A DORMANT CONSTITUTIONAL WEAPON ECHOES TODAY

Controversies over presidential power and recessing Congress aren’t new. See:
Andrew Jackson.

Today at 6:00 a.m. EST
11 min
285
(Washington Post illustration; iStock, National Archives, GenealogyBank)
11 min
285
By Jason Willick
and 
Philip Huff

Jason Willick is a Post columnist. Philip Huff is an independent researcher.

A willful president claiming expansive executive power clashes with the Senate,
including over his unorthodox appointments. The president’s clever allies point
to a constitutional clause he might invoke to unburden himself of the
recalcitrant upper chamber. Language tucked away in Article II, Section 3 says
that if the House of Representatives and the Senate disagree “with Respect to
the Time of Adjournment,” the president “may adjourn them to such Time as he
shall think proper.”


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