Thirty-nine Republican senators have announced they will sign an amicus brief that challenges President Obama's Jan. 4 recess appointment of Richard Cordray to become director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).The senators, who are also challenging the president's recess appointments to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board, called Obama's actions "unprecedented and unconstitutional." However, the senators do not identify which court challenge they planned to join - to date, the recess appointments have not been the subject of any lawsuit.
"American democracy was born out of a rejection of the monarchies of Western Europe, anchored by limited government and separation of powers,"says Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
"We refuse to stand by as this president arrogantly casts aside our Constitution and defies the will of the American people under the election-year guise of defending them."
Among the Republican senators who did not sign the amicus were Alabama's Richard Shelby, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Massachusetts' Scott Brown, who is facing a re-election challenge from Elizabeth Warren, a former Obama adviser who was a driving force in the creation of the CFPB.
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