Supreme Court Must Overturn Fifth Circuit's Radically Pro-Corporate Attack On The CFPB

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to hearCommunity Financial Services Association v. CFPB, a case in which the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals deemed the funding mechanism of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be unconstitutional, Revolving Door ProjectResearcher Vishal Shankar issued the following statement:

“The Fifth Circuit’s radical ruling on the CFPB’s funding structure isn’t just bad, ahistorical jurisprudence — it is a naked attempt by corporate fraudsters to destroy the only cop on the beat protecting consumers. The case was originally brought by predatory payday lenders and is being supported by giant lobbying groups like the Chamber of Commerce, whose members and executives have a shameless history of breaking the law and ripping off consumers. Multiple Republican lawmakers who have praised the Fifth Circuit’s ruling — and the far-right judge who wrote it — have taken large financial contributions from these corporate rip-off artists and lobbying giants.”

“Following the money confirms what we all know to be true: this case has nothing to do with the Constitutional separation of powers and everything to do with destroying an overwhelmingly popular law enforcement agency that has already returned over $13.5 billion in relief to consumers from corporate fraudsters. If the Supreme Court has any respect left for the rule of law, it should overturn the Fifth Circuit’s radical act of right-wing judicial activism.”

Revolving Door Project Research Director Max Moran issued the following statement:

“The plaintiffs claim that it is illegitimate for the CFPB to be funded outside of the Congressional appropriations process. Guess what else is funded outside of the Congressional appropriations process? Every federal regulator of lenders and banks that Congress has created since the signing of the Constitution. Neither the Fed, nor the OCC, nor the FDIC, nor the NCUA, nor either of the original Banks of the United States — back in the days of the Framers — had funding mechanisms like what these payday lenders claim is required.”

“Do the conservative justices, already obsessed with how average Americans despise them, really want to slough off all of American history to side with payday lenders of all people? Do they really think that standing up for the sleaziest hucksters in finance, to destroy one of the best-loved agencies in the country, will be seen as impartial, or in the nation’s best interest?”

Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser issued the following statement:

“Big Business is powerful and aggressive, but that doesn’t mean they are smart. Their crusade against the CFPB — for the supposed sin of protecting consumers from being ripped off — is leading them to seek a precedent that will deeply destabilize mortgage markets, which have developed in response to policies the CFPB has made, and which right-wing activist judges are now threatening. Moreover, there is no judicially-cognizable limiting legal principle that distinguishes between the Fifth Circuit’s harebrained assault on the CFPB and potential challenges to Social Security or other financial regulators which are funded outside of the annual appropriations process. If the courts rule against the CFPB, institutions like the Federal Reserve and FDIC, among others, will at some point soon lose their independence.”