Power grab

Former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is a good choice to head the nation's new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but the manner of his appointment by President Barack Obama is so constitutionally and legally questionable that it could make it difficult for Cordray to do his job.

Obama installed Cordray as director using a "recess" appointment. Such appointments are constitutionally permissible when the Senate is not in session to confirm nominees. But the Senate was not in recess when Obama made the appointment.

Obama justified the move by arguing that the Senate session was a pro forma matter whose only purpose was to deny him the opportunity to make recess appointments. This is true. But it is a maneuver grounded in the Constitution. Congressional Republicans think Cordray is qualified, but they think the agency he heads should be subject to more oversight by Congress. They've refused to confirm Cordray's nomination until changes are made in the agency.

One would expect Obama, as a former constitutional-law professor, to understand and respect constitutional limits. They are intended to prevent precisely the kind of power grab he made on Jan. 4.

An agency set up to prevent abusive practices shouldn't be set up using an abusive practice. And an honorable public servant such as Richard Cordray deserves better than to be used as a political pawn.

- The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch