One area where presidents have been largely stymied by Congress involves the use of recess appointments. Presidents are authorized by the Constitution to make appointments that would otherwise require Senate advice and consent on their own (albeit for limited terms) when the Senate is in recess. The intent was to allow the president to fill vital vacancies when the Senate was unavailable to provide advice and consent.

Presidents increasingly used this power to fill offices that the Senate had left un-filled by withholding its consent. Until the 110th Congress (2007 to 2008). At that point the Senate decided that it had had enough, and found a loophole to block presidential recess appointments. By holding pro-forma sessions even when most Senators were on what would otherwise have been known as a recess, the Senate declared that it was more-or-less never on recess. The Supreme Court agreed with the Senate, declaring that the Senate had authority to decide when it was in recess.