From the constitution:
“Section 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.”
It doesn’t say ANYTHING about calling Congress into “session”. The word “session does not appear here.
It’s about “convene”.
1 : to summon before a tribunal
2 : to cause to assemble
Calling Congress back into session should circumstances require it is what the clause is referring to. I highly doubt that convening both houses to listen to his State of the Union address is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they specified ‘extraordinary Occasions”.
Words mean things in the constitution! Even punctuation as we know (commas).
So if they meant to call Congress into “session” they would have used THAT word.
They knew what “convene” meant! That’s why they used it!
Not SORRY!
A political body convenes a session, and then adjourns a session.
You don’t “session” a congress.
But this thread has been hilarious.
A political body convenes a session, and then adjourns a session.
You don’t “session” a congress.
But this thread has been hilarious.