The hearing will take place the day after Valentine's Day, butthere probably won't be any candy and flowers for thewitnesses.

That's when the House Judiciary Committee plans to hold ahearing on the constitutionality of President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray to run the ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau and of two appointees to the NationalLabor Relations Board.

The panel hasn't announced witnesses for the Feb. 15hearing.

“President Obama's recent appointments are unprecedented andpossibly unconstitutional. The President may make appointmentswhile the Senate is in recess, however these appointments were madewhile the Senate was not—something no other president hasattempted,'' Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas)said when announcing the hearing.

He said the appointment set a dangerous precedent “for futureadministrations that want to avoid transparency and theconstitutional role of the Senate to vote on certainnominations.''

Smith has requested that the Justice Department turn over alldocuments, including emails, created prior to the Jan. 6 Office ofLegislative Counsel opinion which the Obama administration used tojustify the appointments.

On Tuesday during testimony before a House panel, Cordray, a former Ohio attorneygeneral, said he would give some thought to finding a way that theCFPB's decisions aren't invalidated if the courts strike down thevalidity of his appointment.

However, he also said that he wouldn't refrain from takingactions out of fear of an unfavorable legal decision.