Attorneys General from three states—Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Michigan—have joined a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Dodd-Frank Act and are asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the creation of an Orderly Liquidation Authority established under Title II of the legislation.

In June, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and co-plaintiffs State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, and the 60 Plus Association, which bills itself as “the conservative alternative to the AARP,” filed the suit. The centerpiece of its claim is that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has too much independence because Congress cannot set its budget. Other complaints are that the President cannot remove the CFPB director except in special circumstances and that the courts must give CFPB decisions extra deference.

The Attorneys General, all of whom are Republican, added themselves to the suit through a 23-page amended petition filed on Thursday. Specifically, they take issue with the Orderly Liquidation Authority (OLA), which gives the Treasury Secretary the power to liquidate financial companies if the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal agree such a move is needed. Among their complaints is the ability to do so with only 24 hours notice and that there is no meaningful legal recourse for the company because an immediate gag order is placed on all parties. In a statement they referred to it as “death panels for American companies.”

South Carolina AG Alan Wilson said the “unbridled power given to the OLA to seize assets of private companies is simply unconstitutional.”

"Michigan's public-employee pension funds hold substantial fixed-income investments in large financial institutions," added Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who is also co-chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in that state. "Dodd-Frank gives the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury essentially unlimited power—with no judicial or Congressional oversight—to pick winners and losers among creditors when these large financial institutions go bankrupt.  This lawsuit is necessary to safeguard Michigan's pension funds and protect current and future retirees."

The full text of the amended complaint can be found here.