Israeli leader arial sharon. And the president s team is closely watching the Supreme Court to watch the argument over recess appointments and whether they are constitutional. Want to get your thoughts on whether the president can make recess appointments, under what conditions are the , if the court gears up to hear arguments today. Here are the numbers to call. Host if not by phone you can cspanwj, on twitter, facebook, and email. Covershow the hill the story. Nothing less than the boundaries of executive power are at stake monday as the Supreme Court considers whether president obama violated the constitution during his first term. Oral arguments slated for monday will center on a trio of recess appointments to the National LaborRelations Board. If they uphold the decision, experts say that the justices could endanger hundreds of nlrb decisions. Even more significant other ramifications for feature president s, the court poised to bolster or blended the chief executives appointment powers. rulings like this have implications that last for ,according to a labor attorney and cochairman of the workplace policy institute. That is one of many right ups on the court today. It is a busy period for the court right now. The Washington Post has this headline. They point out that over the next 100 days or so, it will hear oral argument in only 25 cases. They go want to talk specifically about the case they are hearing today. The marquis case on the courts agenda as a register is a good example. For 200 years the court is not headed to rule on the meaning of the constitutional provision that allows the president to make recess appointment of highlevel government officials when the senate is not in. Ession to provide consent the clause states that the President Shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate. Nearly every president has used this power, and the executive and legislative branches, no matter which party was in control, have made grudging accommodations. But an extraordinary level of the gridlock between Senate Republicans and president obama has forced the issue. E more graphic here republicans used the filibuster to block appointments to the nlrb to the extent that the board cannot function, and then, barring borrowing a procedure pioneered by Senate Democrats when president bush george w. Bush was president , they used pro forma sessions and most people were out of town to keep obama from making recess appointments. We want to get your thoughts on recess appointments as the Supreme Court hears the case today. We will put the phone numbers on the bottom of your screen for you. Host we will get your calls in just a moment. Via facebook, very simply, stick to the constitution. Separation of powers. A little bit later, chuck writes, nothing will happen, the Current Administration has corrupted the court. Early opinions on this topic. The Washington Times writes a little bit about this as well. For the Supreme Court, whether president obamas recess appointments were legal could well rest on whether the justices decide what president s andington, jefferson madison, or whether they stick with the 40 man who follow the founders. The case the court will hear today has all the makings of a legal thriller with the Supreme Court call to settle the spat. Joe, south bend, indiana, democratic line should good morning. What do you make of the court taking up this idea of recessive womens recessive womens . Recess appointments . Caller if this is republicans, they dont want it in there. They do it when bush was in there. Host keep going, joe. Caller it is just politics, that is all it is. From carolyn in delaware. Caller it must be constitutional because bush did it quite often, to get i dont know why it is a big problem now except that republicans are trying to add more gridlock and stop obamas policies. Host back to facebook, we saw ruth writing, stick to the constitution. Operation of powers. Writes, it is sticking to the constitution, it it specifically gives the president the power to make appointments. There is the address for twitter again. Host the cortex of this case today and we are actually going to get the oral argument delivered later in the week u. S. Typically on these cases we get the argument later. In this case it is going to be friday when the court puts it out. We will presented to you on television, probably friday evening, i would imagine. One more writeup on this from the ap. A disputelicans between the president and Senate Republicans over the power to fill positions. It is the first in the nation sister to consider the meaning of the provision of the constitution that allows the president to make temporary appointments to positions that otherwise require senate confirmation, but only when the senate is in recess. This courtut that battle is the outgrowth of increasing partisanship and the stalemate has been a hallmark of washington in years, especially since Obama Took Office in 2009. Sydney on the line from louisiana now. Caller good morning. I have the question of where in the cost where the constitution say that the Supreme Court can make a ruling whether a law is constitutional or not. Judge scalia said on oneyear programs that it was not on one of your programs that it was not in the constitution. They just took the authority to do it. Host anything else, sidney . Caller no, thats it, they dont have the power. Host good morning, judy. Judy is in virginia beach, judy is a democrat. Caller i dont understand why after two hundred years the president s have had the power that they find it necessary to make changes now. Host so what do you think is at play here . Caller too much politics. I think that for some reason, now there is a question of everything that the president. Oes, and this has not happened i dont understand why the courts are involved, i dont know how the lower courts found it unconstitutional, because it has been done. Host tom is calling from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. Republican. Caller hello. Tanks for cspan. My comment is that i think it is kind of comical that the people who are calling in constantly talking about George Bush George bush did this, george bush did that. I thought this president was supposed to be the big change from george bush. Hope and change his but he ran on. Yet they keep bringing up george bush as a way to compensate for what obama is doing. I think it is ridiculous. Host thanks for calling. This Washington Post piece, let me read it again, the passage about moving from the past i to the present. Borrowing a procedure pioneered by Senate Democrats when mr. Bush was president , they forced the senate into a pro forma sessions when most senators were out of town to keep obama for making recess appointments. Obama responded equally brazenly. Unlike bush, obama and january 2010 may give womens anyway. Made the appointments anyway could he declared that despite the pro forma sessions, the senate was not really available to conduct business by voting on his nominees. A decision by a panel of the u. S. Court of appeals ratcheted , ruling that the president may make recessive womens only during the annual breaks between sessions of congress, sometimes those last only minutes, and the vacancies must occur during those breaks in order for the president to fill them. Mark is calling on the republican line. Caller well, thank you for having my call. If any of the democrats or liberals, mostly, in this particular instance, were listening to what you just said, george bush never made any recess appointments when the senate was in recess because the senate always came in and cap open and gaveled out so that they were came in and gaveled they wereeled out so always in session, pro forma session. But when republicans do the same thing, obama says, oh, no, no, im going over your head. We are debating about whether he can have them when the senate is still in session, also known as the pro forma session. In theocrats did this last two years of when bush was president. Now obama doesnt like it so he changes the law, does what he wants. We will see what the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Justice Roberts, if it is going to be fair to the constitution or for two obama. Fair to obama. We will have to wait and see. Thank you for your time. Host evan writes on facebook host steve, you are calling from virginia. Democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host hi, steve. Caller yes, i think the president has every right to he is our commanderinchief. If he cant do that, he cant do anything. This is a little bit ridiculous. They want you they want to bring this down to this level and destroy the country. The president is president. Respect the office and let him do his job to that is about all i got to say. Host debbie is calling for michigan. Go ahead, you are on the independent line. Caller hi. I dont believe they can rule against the president making recess appointments because it is in the constitution. They need to rule on whether the senate has the right to pretend that it is in session when it is actually not in session. Host the difference between those pro forma sessions and regular old recesses, right . Caller yeah. To me, pro forma sessions are recesses. And for people saying that obama doesnt have the right to do that, i think obama is trying to clarify the situation. This is going to affect both republicans and democratic president s in the future. It is not a partisan issue, if you think about it. They need to find whether they will uphold the constitution and let the president appoint recess isointments when the senate actually in recess, and pro forma is not an active session. It is a recess. Host the court hears the case today and we will have the oral arguments later in the week for you. The ap points out that a few hours after the court hears the scheduled toate is vote on the nomination of Robert Wilkins am a currently a federal trial judge, to serve on the federal Appeals Court in the District Of Columbia. Senate democrats changed the rules over fears Republican Opposition after the gop lost the nomination of wilkins to the. The nomination process continues in the senate. You can watch the senate on cspan2 later today. The house is in session, by the way, all meet as well. All week as well. Government funding runs out on wednesday. They may need a temporary bill. Russ, independent caller. Caller good morning. My comment is in reference to the pro forma vs. The current ongoing debate, and the organization that is that the president is establishing precedence of sorry nominating appointees and then putting them in their position after the senate has recessed. I dont think it is necessarily it is not that sure the president have this power. It is granted that he should, and i believe it was established that it was an emergency if a vacancyat became available, the president could in fact appoint someone during that time. The fact that the court has not ruled over 200 years, i think it needs to make a decision, what establishes the power of the presidency to make a recess appointment, and when can he in fact to do that . Host appreciate your feedback, russ. Ethyl hanging on in texas. Caller another question. How come anybody in this country ever broke the constitution they were put in jail or something . I wasthis president raised with six children with no father around. Orced peoplent has f to go into obamacare, and they dont want it because it is to high, they cannot live. Im 69 years old. I work since the age of 14, and and i gotid medicare, disabled at the age of 60 when my husband died and i have no job, no money, and disabled. I didnt holler about it. President , he has broke so many of our constitution, especially the freedom of choice, and i dont think he should be allowed to get away with it. Will get right, sl, we some other viewpoints in a few minutes, but we want to step back and talk more broadly about congress at this point in the morning. It is going to be a busy week. On the phone, a reporter with the hill. Good morning, pete. Guest how you doing . Host talk to us about the budget first. We have been waiting for the on the business spending bill to be unveiled. Has that happened yet . Guest you know, it hasnt been as of last night and you remind me to check for you guys. We hadnt seen it yesterday. It is the mission of the week for congress. They will do it in 2 stages, past the shortterm bill for saturday. That will give them time to morele through the big than 1 trillion spending bill for the rest of the year. That is what we figure they will do this week. The sense is that in the house it will pass pretty easily on tuesday. The senate will probably follow on the same day and knock that out. Given 3 or number four days it will give 3 or 4 days left to figure out the rest of the spending bill. They should be able to push that through. Would you make a good point that we have to see the bill, and a lot of members will see it and have a few days to look at it and it is usual cap as usual these things, with surprises. It looks like they will finish by friday or saturday. Host take this through the unemployment bill. St that sort of blue was blew up in the senate. The democrats came up with a new idea for an 11 month extension of emergency on Employment Benefits paid for by extending the famous sequester that well talk about we talked about. Then democrats said they would not look at any republican amendments and then hit people funny because a lot of republicans held to against the bill earlier in the week and suddenly democrats were saying we wont consider any of your ideas of paying for this. That seemed to change by friday. Will probably look at some republican amendments but do not say which one. Are there a certain number or in certain kinds of amendments they would look at that might help enact the bill . Host what is the timing on the senate bill and do you see the house taking this up at all . It is really hard to say. The senate could take a while. We need to hear more this morning and early this week to see what their plan is. If they can pass something to get republican support for how it is paid for, you might see the house consider it. Moveouse is not going to first. Republicans over there made it clear that they want to focus on things like job training, things that get people back to work as opposed to extending unEmployment Benefits. The senate would have to go first no matter what you even generate any interest. If they can do that and get some gop support, the house could look at it. Theill have to see what senate is capable of doing and what they can agree to first. Host its only monday. They do have a oneweek recess next week, so they are looking to move forward as far as they can. Take us over to committee. Last week wasnt necessarily the biggest we biggie busiest week in committee. What do they have this week . On,t not a whole lot going but the house has 2 obamacare hearings. Republicans continue to push that issue. This week they even have a vote on an obamacare bill that would requireple to weekly reports on how the enrollment is going, what kind of glitches we have on the website. Republicans are not letting that go. Still a big issue for the gop. And this is something we can expect all year. Republicans keep thinking that the premiums are higher and people are losing their plans and so it seems there is at least 1 wonderful to a week, a week, 1 or 2 hearings on obamacare. Host the state of the union is coming. From what you could tell on the hill these days and over at the white house, what will that speech be like and just as importantly, how will republicans, the president must message how will republicans message . E president s guest is a funny time. The white house is caught between a 2 funny realities. There is to say improvement in the job market. It always comes down to jobs, it seems a bit at the same time, pushing the unEmployment Benefits and having an extended. Most people think it is a mixed economy, and that is going to make it a difficult speech to tie all these ideas together, to say that we are improving but we still need help for people. That has been a messaging problem. Republicansunch of who are still fuming feeling the road to and all these other issues. Although the things they dont want to let go. All of these things that i want to let go. The classic battle of is the government. I suppose people call it messaging but it is fighting back and forth. In a lot of ways it is similar to what we have seen the last few years and the gop will combat it by saying we have a better idea to give jobs. Is turning into one great election season and everything is a message. The speech will be a message and the gop response will all be messaged to death until we get to a vote o if we feel like voting. , thankste kasperowicz for your time this morning. House on cspan, the senate on cspan two. We are watching the Supreme Court as it hears oral arguments on the case involving recess appointments. Story thatm an ap moved yesterday by mark sherman. And the Washington Post mike says that the reminds us that case for 200 years the court has not had to rule on the meaning of the constitution that allows the president to make these recess appointments of highlevel government officials when the senate is not in session to provide consent. The clause states that the President Shall have the power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate and nearly every president , they write, has used the power of the executive branches and legislative branches, no matter which party was in control, have made lodging accommodations. But an extraordinary level of political gridlock between Senate Republicans and the president has forced the issue. Landon, you have been hanging on from richmond. Republican line. Caller i have a couple statements to make. See that a public is much more educated on subject