Also known as: pro forma session · proforma session · proforma sessions · pro forma session of Congress
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A brief formal meeting of the Senate held at regular intervals during an adjournment. The Senate uses such meetings to retain the capacity to transact business and to prevent itself from entering a recess of sufficient duration.
The President appointed Dr. Lopez acting director of the National Drug Review Center during a month-long Senate break. The Senate had scheduled brief pro forma sessions every three days and announced it would not enter a formal recess. A pharmaceutical company challenged the appointment. The court held the appointment invalid because the pro forma sessions kept the Senate in session.
The President appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board between January 3 and January 6. The Senate had passed a resolution providing for pro forma sessions every Tuesday and Friday with no business transacted. Noel Canning challenged the appointments. The Court ruled the three-day gap between pro forma sessions too short to qualify as a recess.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
No. The Senate remains in session when it holds pro forma sessions at regular intervals and does not formally declare a recess. Courts therefore treat the period as a session rather than a recess even if the break spans many days.
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Yes. When the Senate convenes pro forma sessions every three days and states that it remains in session, it retains the capacity to transact business. That formal action blocks the President from using the recess appointment power.
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The sessions still count as sessions. The constitutional test focuses on whether the Senate has formally declared a recess and retains the capacity to act, not on whether actual legislative work occurs during the meetings.
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…of the Senate," Art. II, § 2, cl. 3—the President appointed the three members in question between the January 3 and January 6 pro forma sessions. Noel Canning argued primarily that the appointments were invalid because the 3-day adjournment between those two sessions was not long enough to trigger the Recess Appointments Clause. The…