Gubernatorial appointments to fill vacancies are good for the U.S. Senate, but it would be even better if such appointments were truly temporary.

Testimony by Norman J. Ornstein before the House Committee on the Judiciary on February 28, 2002.

The death of Yemeni-American militant, Anwar al-Awlaki, will likely degrade AQAP’s ability to recruit foreign fighters and to conduct attacks against America in the near term. However, over the long term killing Awlaki will probably not reduce AQAP’s capabilities significantly.

President Obama’s scorn for the Constitution has been expressed most recently in his "recess" appointments of members of the National Labor Relations Board and the chairmanship of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

John Boehner is caught between a rock and a hard place in order to get the House of Representatives to vote on his debt plan.

Neither the framers nor subsequent political leaders had built in to the constitutional framework any plans to reconstitute Congress in the event of a catastrophe like 9/11. I called for Congressional leaders to at least create a commission to study the problem and potential solutions.

Why do we have no tangible and workable plans in place to maintain a functioning, viable, and representative Congress if and when a larger terrorist attack takes place?

The tension between Congress and the president is palpable, and nowhere is that more true than in the controversy over recess appointments.