On January 4, 2012 President Barack Obama made four recess appointments. On that day, he appointed three people to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and installed Richard Cordray as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CRPB).
These “recess appointments” were immediately challenged as unconstitutional since the House was not officially in recess.
On February 1, 2012 Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) held a hearing on the recess appointments. Legal experts disagreed sharply on their legality.
April 24, 2012