He believes the president is empowered to spy, torture, and kill, but that he can only temporarily appoint with permission. What if he's right?

What if the Bush Administration lawyers were right? What if the president really does possess the authority under the Constitution to torture detainees, crush the testicles of children, spy on Americans without a warrant, indefinitely imprison anyone without charges, and assassinate citizens? It's useful to proceed, for the duration of this article, as if John Yoo and David Addington, two of the most extreme advocates of executive power in American history, are in fact correct in all their legal theories, for there is no better context for their most recent bit of analysis.

The subject is President Obama and an action he took: last week he appointed four people, three to the National Labor Relations Board and the other to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. When Congress isn't in session, the president is permitted by the Constitution to make temporary recess appointments to fill vacancies that normally require Senate approval.

For some time, however, that provision hasn't worked as the Framers intended. During the Bush Administration, Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats would hold pro-forma sessions to prevent certain recess appointments from being made. Under the Obama Administration, Republicans started violating the spirit of the Constitution in the same way. Finally, President Obama decided that he'd just go ahead and make recess appointments anyway, an apparent violation of the law's letter. Personally, I'd urge Republicans and Democrats to observe the spirit and letter of the law. If anyone in this pissing contest comes out looking good I can't see it.