Obscure Labor Law Case Would Affect AG Sessions Replacement

Over the past 30 years, it’s become harder for presidents to get confirmation hearings and enough votes for their executive branch appointees. Example: Merrick Garland, nominated for the Supreme Court, didn’t get a hearing from Mitch McConnell. (Yes, neither has the AHCA.) Democrats have played this card a lot, too. It’s gotten out of hand.

In 2010, President Obama named Lafe Solomon to serve on the NLRB. Obama used a “recess appointment”—that is, he waited till Congress adjourned and put Solomon in office. He did this because Solomon’s nomination would not get out of a Republican-controlled committee.

This plays into President Trump’s apparent strategy of embarrassing AG Sessions into quitting. 

If Congress takes a vacation but someone in the Senate comes into the chamber and bangs the gavel within every 10 days, there is no recess-- and the president can make the appointment. That might explain why Trump is browbeating Republicans to give him more cover.

Rewind to a small labor dispute involving an ambulance company and a union. The company changed its method for paying employees; the union filed a complaint, and the National Labor Relations Board ruled 3-2 against the company.

The crucial vote was cast by the recess appointee, Lafe Solomon.

The Supreme Court ruled on March 21, 2017 that every case in which Solomon voted, and his vote decided the outcome, was nullified. Bottom line: Presidents cannot name outsiders to recess appointments.

Would McConnell not let someone come in to bang the gavel? That would be standing up to Trump. He could not then make an appointment. Again, if there is an actual recess (10 days or more), a president cannot name a replacement without going through the confirmation process.

PS: Why the picture of Fred Thompson? The actor/later senator was the main sponsor of this vacancy law, called the Federal Vacancy Replacement Act (FVRA). He wanted to end the shenanigans around recess appointments. 
Nagging Question: If the intent of the law was to end with the subterfuge of recess appointments, how does having a junior senator bring the Senate to order and dismiss it 30 seconds later accomplish the purpose of the law?