First up today on CNN STUDENT NEWS, a rare intersection of the three branches of the U.S. government.
This doesn't happen every day.
At the center of this story three job appointments made by President Obama.
You know from civics that for certain government jobs, the president can't simply appoint whomever he wants.
He nominates people for them.
And the Senate gives the president advice and consent by deciding whether to approve his nominations.
The Founding Fathers wanted to keep anyone branch of government from having too much power over the others.
What's known as checks and balances?
But what if the Senate's not in session, and the jobs aren't filled?
Well, the president can make recess appointments, temporarily filling the jobs until the end of the following year unless the Senate decides to approve them for longer.
Well, over the Senate's holiday break from 2011 to 2012, President Obama appointed three people to the National Labor Relations Board without Senate approval.
The president's stance-these were recess appointments that he could make temporarily without advice and consent as some of this predecessors have done.
But the Senate wasn't technically in recess, it was in pro-forma, and what that means, it wasn't passing laws or conducting official business, but it was technically in session.
Formally convening and then immediately adjourning.
Some senators set this up to prevent President Obama from making recess appointments.
Now, for the third branch-the judicial one.
Yesterday, The Supreme Court took this up, it could decide whether President Obama's appointments were appropriate or if they violated the constitutional principle of advice and consent.
It really come down to how the high court defines the Senate's recess.
Time for the "Shoutout."
Parts per million is commonly used as a measurement of what?
If you think you know it, shout it out!
Is it: digitization, buoyancy, pollution or radiance.
You've got three seconds, go!
When you are talking about small levels of pollution, you're likely talking about it in terms of parts per million.
That's your answer and that's your shoutout.
