Last Friday, the United States Supreme Court considered whether to hear arguments regarding the constitutionality of the funding mechanism for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB is funded directly by the Federal Reserve, leaving it insulated from the appropriations process in Congress. In October of last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the funding scheme was a violation of the Constitution’s structural separation of powers.
In a Washington Post opinion piece last week, columnist George Will encouraged the court to take up the case.
“The CFPB has been an affront to the Constitution for 13 years,” Will wrote. “The court should grant the CFPB’s request for a day in court. Then the court should declare it a perfect example of what the Constitution forbids.”
In addition to consideration in this case, the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding mechanism is also a key point raised in the IBAT-supported lawsuit against the Bureau, which was filed in late 2022.
