Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about whether or not the Senate can actually stop Trump's nominees.

Okay, so Trump has made a list of nominations, and some of them are so bad that even Republican senators are opposed to them. There's reporting of

aides telling the press their bosses won't vote to confirm and so on. You also have, well,

let's just call it encouragement coming from Trump circles saying that anybody who opposes a Trump appointee will face a primary.

But all of this has led to the same question coming in a number of times.

It boils down to how can a handful of senators stop these appointments when he makes the

appointment during a recess?

First, let me start by saying that I'm not sure there are that many Republicans who are willing

to openly oppose a Trump nominee during a vote.

But the reporting says there are.

So, if the votes to confirm don't exist, the votes to create a situation allowing a recess

appointment don't exist in the Senate either. The Senate would need to vote to adjourn for a break

longer than 10 days, and there would have to be no pro forma sessions. Pro forma sessions are sessions that are held every two or three days and there's

no business conducted. They're just for the sake of form. If pro forma sessions are happening, the

Senate isn't technically in recess, therefore no recess appointments. Now, there is an obscure and literally never

used part of the Constitution in Article 2, Section 3, that says that the President may, quote,

on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, the respect to the time of adjournment,

he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper.

But using this power to set up a recess so he can make appointments would be a blatant in run around the Senate's advice and consent

duty in the Constitution. The Supreme Court would almost certainly not allow it. Keep in mind,

a majority of the current court was part of a unanimous decision in 2014 that struck appointments because the recess was too

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