Justices Breyer and Scalia wrote that the President could use the adjournment power to block Senate “intransigence.”
No President has ever adjourned Congress before. Yet at least.

Article II, Section 3 provides:

[The President] 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

No President has ever used the adjournment power–certainly not to make recess appointments. But this idea is not novel. Justice Scalia flagged it in NLRB v. Noel Canning (2014).

In that case, the Obama Administration asked the Supreme Court to view the recess-appointment power as a “safety valve” against Senatorial “intransigence.” The majority opinion by Justice Breyer rejected that position. Breyer explained that the President has other trump cards at his disposal: namely, the adjournment power…..

Justice Scalia concurred, joined by Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Thomas, and Justice Alito. They made a very similar position: the President’s friends in Congress could help trigger an adjournment. . . . All 9 Justices seemed to agree that the adjournment power could be used to facilitate recess appointments.”…….