Opinion ID: 2367442
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Recess Appointment Power Generally

Text: It is noted that the constitutional concept of Senatorial consent to gubernatorial appointments was first introduced in the current Constitution, the Constitution of 1897. Our earlier Constitutions  1776, 1792 and 1831  gave the Governor the absolute appointing power without any requirement of Senate confirmation. Given this chronology, it should also be particularly noted that our recess appointment provision appears to be based on the 1787 federal model and traces the federal language almost verbatim. [3] This would suggest, under concepts of statutory construction, that interpretations of the federal constitutional provision, at least those in vogue in 1897, are entitled to great weight. 73 Am.Jur.2d, Statutes, § 334 (1974); Hill v. Moskin Stores, Inc., Del.Super., 159 A.2d 299, 302 (1960), aff'd Del.Supr., 165 A.2d 447 (1960). But a judicial interpretation of a foreign statute, rendered in the foreign forum subsequent to the statute's adoption here, is not entitled to a presumption that the borrowing extended to that subsequent interpretation. Heckman v. Heckman, Del. Supr., 245 A.2d 550, 551 n. 1 (1968). Moreover, with regard to State constitutional provisions and United States Supreme Court precedents, the predecessor to this Court said through Judge Rodney in DuPont v. Green, Del.Supr., 195 A. 273, 275 (1937): When, however, the Supreme Court of a State is faced with the final construction of a provision of its own Constitution, it becomes imperative that a critical examination be made of the reasoning of any case which, by analogy, might aid in such construction, and this duty exists regardless of the high standing of the Court in which such other decision is rendered. Thus, while the apparent origin of the language of the recess appointment power should be noted and federal precedents accorded proper respect, it is clearly our duty to exercise an independent judgment. Turning to two specifics, we focus on the language of the power of the Governor to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate. It came to our attention that Mr. Killen's stated term expired July 1, 1978. The General Assembly was in session in 1978 on June 30 and recalled by the mutual call of the presiding officers of both Houses immediately after midnight on July 1. [4] While these facts raised the question of whether the vacancy asserted happened during the recess of the Senate or while the Senate was in session, we are satisfied that the moment of origin of the vacancy asserted does not govern the recess power. In this conclusion, we are persuaded by a series of opinions of the corresponding federal provision by various Attorneys General of the United States. Rather, the power extends to a vacancy happening while the Senate is in session and remaining unfilled in a subsequent recess. As United States Attorney General William Wirt wrote in 1823 at 1 Op.Att'y.Gen. 631, 632-34: The substantial purpose of the constitution was to keep these offices filled; and powers adequate to this purpose were intended to be conveyed. But if the President shall not have the power to fill a vacancy thus circumstanced, the powers are inadequate to the purpose, and the substance of the constitution will be sacrificed to a dubious construction of its letter.    Looking to the reason of the case, why should not the President have the power to fill it? In reason, it seems to me perfectly immaterial when the vacancy first arose; for, whether it arose during the session of the Senate, or during their recess, it equally requires to be filled. The constitution does not look to the moment of the origin of the vacancy, but to the state of things at the point of time at which the President is called on to act. Is the Senate in session? Then he must make a nomination to that body. Is it in recess? Then the President must fill the vacancy by a temporary commission.   The opposite construction is, perhaps, more strictly consonant with the mere letter. But it overlooks the spirit, reason, and purpose; and, like all constructions merely literal, its tendency is to defeat the substantial meaning of the instrument, and to produce the most embarrassing inconveniences. See also United States v. Allocco, 2d Cir., 305 F.2d 704, 712-14 (1962), cert. denied 371 U.S. 964, 83 S.Ct. 545, 9 L.Ed.2d 511 (1963) and II Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Delaware 1320-21 (1958). Secondly, while it is not necessary to define recess in any comprehensive fashion, the parties are in agreement that the period between the day after the election in 1980 and the convening of the newly elected General Assembly in January 1981 constituted a recess. We agree and this conclusion is confirmed by an opinion construing the federal Constitution rendered by United States Attorney General Knox on December 24, 1901, close to the time of the adoption of our constitutional provision. 23 Op.Att'y.Gen. 599. [5] Thus, with regard to the recess appointment of Mr. DiMondi, as we see it, the crucial time is the time the Governor acted and, at that time, January 6, 1981, the Senate was in recess.