Reading Room Document

Intrasession Recess Appointments

The President may make appointments under the Recess Appointments Clause dunng an intrasession recess of the Senate that is of substantial length. A 33-day summer recess is of sufficient length to permit the President to make recess appointments. An officer appointed under the Recess Appointments Clause during an intersession recess may serve until the end of the next session of Congress after the recess. 5 U.S.C. § 5503 does not prohibit salary payments to a recess appointee whose nomination a committee refused to send to the full Senate and whose nomination was not returned to the President prior to an adjournment. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/24301/download.

August 3, 1989