President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that he has the constitutional authority to adjourn Congress. The suggestion has been, unsurprisingly, panned by the media and legal scholars. The Constitution does actually provide some authority here, but the authority has never been used, leaving more questions than answers.

With the sudden, unexpected passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, the entire political world is in an uproar over the future of the Supreme Court. Democrats, as is to be expected, want president Obama to push through a nominee before he leaves office in January, fearing that a Republican victory in the presidential election will cost them a chance to shift the balance of the Court to the left. Meanwhile, Republicans appear determined to block any nomination this year, hoping that a Republican president in 2017 will be able to fill Scalia’s seat with a similarly-minded Justice. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already stated that he does not intend to hold a vote to confirm any Obama nominee.