Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s structure is constitutional, appeals court rules in a blow to agency’s opponents

Supporters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau might have just won the war over the future of the controversial watchdog even as they are losing battle after battle over its operations under President Trump. While Hensarling said he was “deeply disappointed” in the ruling, he added that he took “great solace in the fact that Mick Mulvaney can use his unchecked, unilateral powers to continue the agency’s transformation.” Democrats and consumer advocates hailed the ruling as guaranteeing the future of the bureau as a powerful watchdog of the often perilous financial marketplace. “The court decision affirming the constitutionality of the CFPB demonstrates once again that the right wing’s hysteria over the consumer bureau is baseless,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who first conceived of the agency and helped set it up as an Obama aide. That earlier ruling said the solution was to strike down the law’s “for cause” provision, meaning that the president could remove the bureau’s director for any reason, as with other executive branch appointees. A Justice Department official said, “We are disappointed in the decision and reviewing our options.” Cordray, an Obama appointee who stepped down in November, said Wednesday’s ruling that the bureau’s structure was constitutional was historic and may be “soon on its way to the Supreme Court.” The court’s decision “is all about maintaining independent law enforcement free from politics,” tweeted Cordray, a Democrat now running for governor of Ohio.