Senator Thune blocks recess appointments

The story here is Senate procedure — but the stakes are executive power. The Senate met in a pro forma session on Monday, May 4, and that tiny meeting matters because it keeps the chamber technically in session. No real recess means no recess appointments. So if people online are saying John Thune “blocked” the White House, that’s basically the mechanism they mean. ### What actually happened? The Senate’s public floor schedule showed a pro forma session at 6:45 a.m. on May 4. Democrats’ floor notice said the chamber would hold pro forma sessions only on May 4 and May 7, with no business conducted, and then return for normal business on Monday, May 11. That is not a full recess. It is a legal placeholder that keeps the Senate alive on paper. Why does a two-minute session matter? Because recess appointments only work when the Senate is actually in recess. The Constitution gives presidents a backup appointment power for vacancies during “the Recess of the Senate.” But that backup power is narrower than a lot of people assume. If senators gavel in briefly every few days, the recess clock never really starts. ### Didn’t the Supreme Court settle this? Yes — and that is the load-bearing detail. In *NLRB v. Noel Canning*, the Court said breaks of three days or fewer do not count, breaks between three and 10 days are generally too short, and pro forma sessions still count as the Senate being in session because the chamber retains the capacity to do business. That ruling is why pro forma sessions are such a powerful blocking tool. ### So is Thune really the one blocking it? In practical terms, yes, because the majority leader controls the floor schedule and can keep the Senate on this pro forma track. But the bigger point is that this is an institutional move, not some weird loophole invented overnight. Congress has used pro forma sessions for years specifically to stop presidents from claiming that method to preserve the Senate’s advice-and-consent role. ### Why are people saying this is a reversal? Because Thune was talking very differently last year. In July 2025, he said an extended recess to let Trump make recess appointments was “on the table” as nominee backlogs piled up. That matters now because the current schedule does the opposite — it preserves the blockade rather than opening a window. So the criticism from the right is not just about procedure. It is about a change in posture. ### Could Trump still get recess appointments anyway? Not through this break. The current gap runs through pro forma sessions on May 4 and May 7 before the Senate returns on May 11, which is exactly the kind of arrangement Noel Canning says does not create a usable recess. The catch is that this could change later if both chambers agreed to a longer adjournment. But as of today, that is not what the Senate schedule shows. ### Why does the House matter too? Because the Constitution bars either chamber from adjourning for more than three days without the other chamber’s consent. That means a true long recess is not just a Senate choice. It usually takes coordination across Congress, which makes recess appointments as much a political decision as a legal one. This is a power fight disguised as calendar trivia. Thune did not need a dramatic floor showdown to stop recess appointments — he just needed the Senate to keep tapping the brakes every few days. Right now, that is exactly what the chamber is doing.