SCOTUS Must Confirm CFPB’s Funding

February 27, 2023

For Immediate Release:

SCOTUS Must Confirm CFPB’s Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the United States’ petition for a writ of certiorari in CFPB, ET AL. v. COM. FIN. SERVICES ASSN., to hear the appeal of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision, which held that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding under the Federal Reserve System was unconstitutional.

“American families need a strong, stable, and independent CFPB to protect them in the vast financial marketplace, and the CFPB needs the U.S. Supreme Court to confirm the agency’s funding structure and safeguard the U.S. economy,” said Christine Hines, legislative director at the National Association of Consumer Advocates. “Unnecessarily changing the CFPB’s funding source would upend the markets and create dire confusion for regulators and regulated entities alike.”

After the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the U.S. Congress determined that the new financial regulatory agency it was creating should have meaningful independence and funding under the Federal Reserve System, as other federal financial regulators do. The Fifth Circuit’s holding that Congress does not have sufficient authority over the bureau because its funding does not come from the congressional appropriations process appears to distort the rule of law.

Now, the fate of the CFPB and other similarly funded regulators, and the stability of the U.S. financial market are in the hands of the highest Court.

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