Blog de Dunlap: re: The Supreme Court and the CFPB

Thursday, May 16, 2024

re: The Supreme Court and the CFPB

Did you see today's breaking news, Danielle? The Supreme Court followed the law and upheld the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure — so the "Little Agency That Could" will live to fight another day.

Look: I'm not surprised that the CFPB faced this attack, which its opponents have been trotting out for years and years and years. When you have an agency that is this good at protecting consumers, then of course a lot of big banks, a lot of payday lenders, and a lot of Republican politicians will go after it and try to shut it down.

We can all let out a sigh of relief that the CFPB overcame this threat — just like we had to overcome armies of Wall Street lobbyists to get it into law in the first place.

But I wanted to share three thoughts on what led to today's ruling and what could come next:

The fact that this particular case — which had no basis in law — made it all the way up to the Supreme Court is a reminder of just how extreme some of our lower federal courts have become.
We're not fooling ourselves: the CFPB's opponents will come back on the attack. After all, this agency has put over $20 billion back in the pockets of seniors, students, service members, veterans, families struggling to make it to the end of the month, and other consumers who got cheated by financial institutions — so those financial institutions have over 20 billion reasons to want to knock it out the game for good.
And there's still a pending case before the Supreme Court that could gut the ability of all federal agencies to do their jobs on behalf of working people.

So we know the threats that we still face. We know that those forces have got plenty of money and power, and that they'll keep fighting. But so will we. And we've got our passion, we've got our determination, and we've got a consumer agency that is still protecting the American people.

We'll keep having the CFPB's back, and we'll stay in this fight. No matter what.

If you're able to make a donation of $100 or any amount right now to help make sure our government works not just for big banks but for all Americans, then please pitch in and help power the fight.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth