in 2004 -- i'm sorry, in 2005, he was the recipient of the 2004-2005 mary c. lawton award for outstanding public service by the american bar association section of administrative law and regulatory practice. mort, the floor is yours. >> thank you. i want to thank ai and peter and wayne abernathy for affording me this opportunity to share my views on this extraordinary important and constitutional issue with this knowledgeable audiences and very distinguished panel of legal scholars and practitioners. i feel the trepidation of a dissertation defense appellate court argument. i will plow ahead. i'd like to add one or two facts to the factual background that peter has just given you. the resolution that put the senate into pro forma session, as it is called, said that no business would be conducted during that period of time. and the office of legal council memoed that has been relied upon by the president to do these recess appointments makes a big point of, gee, we've been told that no business would be conducted. in fact, business was conducted on december 23rd, cong

and the executive branch in 2004 -- i'm sorry, in 2005, he was the recipient of the 2004/2005 mary c. lawton award for outstanding service of the american bar association. mort, the floor is yours. >> i feel the trepidation of a dissertation defense or an appellate court argument. . but i will plow ahead. i'd like to add one or two facts to the factual background that peter has just given you. the resolution that put the senate into pro forma session, as it is called, said that no business would be conducted during that period of time. and the office of legal counsel memo that has been relied upon by the president to do these recess appointments makes a big point of, gee, we've been told that no business would be conducted. in fact, business was conducted. on december 23rd, congress, by -- the senate by unanimous consent passed the taxpayer continuation act, emergency taxpayer information act of 2011. and that is quite a legislative act. in a previous pro forma session, in august of 2011, similarly, the senate by unanimous consent, once again, passed an f.a.a. bill which allowed it to contin