The House Judiciary Committee is requesting all Department of Justice documents pertaining to President Barack Obama’s controversial recess appointments earlier this month.
Lamar Smith (R-Texas)
In a letter sent Tuesday, Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said the early January appointments and the Justice Department’s post facto blessing raise “serious separation of powers concerns and has the potential to dramatically shift the balance of power between the President and the Congress toward the President.”
Earlier this month, Obama appointed former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three others to the National Labor Relations Board. Many Republicans have argued the appointments were unconstitutional because the Senate was in a pro forma session with most of its members at home for the winter holiday.
The House Judiciary Committee’s criticism has been amplified by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Charles Grassley in his challenges to Attorney General Eric Holder on the department’s role in the process. Grassley blasted the department earlier this week for its post facto authorization of the appointments.
The administration released the previously confidential authorization, which was issued by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel chief Virginia Seitz. Monday, Grassley called Seitz a “lackey of the adminstration” for what he described as a “wholly erroneous” legal opinion. Other legal commentators have come out against Grassley’s characterization, but GOP lawmakers continue to search for more answers surrounding the appointments.
Smith’s letter requests all department documents related to the recess appointments. “These appointments go well beyond past presidential practice and raise serious separation of powers concerns,” Smith wrote Holder.
Smith also announced that the House panel will be holding a hearing about the recess appointments on Feb. 15.
