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1 1 (November 27, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbbxr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Supreme Court to Review Constitutionality of the CFPB November 27, 2019 Last month the Supreme Court agreed to hear a constitutional challenge to one of the signature agencies Congress created in response to the 2008 financial collapse: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In Sil Law LLC v CFB, the Court is to review whether it is permissible for that agency to be led by a single director protected from at-will removal by the President, and if not, whether the Court may correct any error by severing the director's removal protections. This Sidebar identifies some of the CFPB's key attributes that the Court is likely to scrutinize. CRS products in preparation discuss other issues raised by this case, including possible remedies the Court may order if the CFPB's organizational structure is held unconstitutional. Background The CFPB is tasked with administering 18 preexisting federal consumer protection statutes that are intended to ensure consumers have access to financial products, services, and markets that are fair, transparent, and conpetitive. The agency is led by a single director nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Its director may issue rules and regulations, conduct invesigations, file lawsuits in federal court, and impose civil penalties for violations of consumer finance law. Rather than participate in the annual congressional appropriations process, the director is authorized to request funding directly from the Federal Reserve. And perhaps most important for the present challenge, the director serves a five-year term and is removable by the President only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, commonly referred to as a for-cause removal protection. While such protections are a regular feature of so-called independent agencies, most leaders of executive branch agencies may be removed by the President at will (i.e., at his discretion). The Supreme Court is to hear an appeal from Seila Law LLC, a law firm that the CFPB began investigating for potential violations of telemarketing rules. Seila Law refused to comply with the CFPB's demand to produce documents related to the investigation, arguing that Congress violated the separation of powers by vesting substantial executive authority in an independent agency led by a single director. Therefore, Seila Law contends, all of the CFPB's enforcement actions are unlawful. The Ninth Circuit disagrced. The court recognized that the arguments for and against that view have been thoroughly canvassed by the D.C. Circuit's 2018 decision in P1H1 Corporation i. Consumer Finan Proteclion Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10366 CRS Legal Sidabar Prepared for Members and C om mritees o C onqgress ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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