As to the issue at hand concerning the President's recess appointments, I think folks should also read this segment from the OP article:
Simply put: If prior federal appeals courts have upheld these same types of pro forma recess appointment by sitting Presidents in the past, there's no way the SCOUS will uphold the lower court's ruling because the precidence for such Presidential appoints has long been established.
Although I did find other articles and/or white papers that addressed the parameters of Presidential recess appointments conducted in the past, I thought this article summarized the issue much clearer, "
President's Power to Recess Appoint". What's in question is simply this: "Do pro forma recesses constitute an break from Congress conducting their normal day-to-day business or is it merely a mechanism used by the minority party in Congress to block Presidential recess appointments much as the filibuster is used to block passage of Senate legislation?"
In short, if all you're doing is taking attendance, reading some letter from grandma before the Senate President Pro Tempe or just gavelling in to chew the fat then gavel out to leave after a 5 minute water cooler chat, do such brief interactions by members of Congress constitute Congress as being in full recess per the Constitution, which reads:
Art. II, Sect. 2:
Notice that there's nothing in this section of the Constitution that sets a limit on how long Congress must be in recess before the President can make his recess appointment. However, here's what Art. I, Sect. 5 says on the matter of Congressional recesses and adjournments:
Clause 1:
Clause 4:
Doesn't say that the Congress must be adjourned (or in recess) for no less than 3-days before a recess appointment can be made; just that no House of Congress - House of Reps or the Senate - can adjourn for more than 3 days without the consent of the other.
In my view, the President's recess appointments are Constitutional. Once the Senate "gavels out", they're no longer in session and, therefore, ARE in recess even if only for a minute.